Chinese share prices ended down 1.19 percent in Tuesday morning trade amid ongoing concern as inflation and other key economic figures were due to be released tomorrow, dealers said.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, dropped 1.19 percent, or 39.10 points, to 3,257.57 at 11:30am.

Losers in the Shanghai market outnumbered gainers 518 to 306, while 30 were unchanged.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the mainland's smaller stock market, was down 1.21 percent, or 12.20 points, to 996.96.

Dealers said investors were nervously waiting for the data to gauge the prospects for further monetary tightening measures.

State media reported on Monday that the inflation rate for March was expected to come in at 8.3 percent, and at around eight percent for the first quarter, citing Liu Shiyu, deputy governor of the central bank.

The key index hit an intraday new low since a peak last October, after falling 5.62 percent on Monday, the biggest one-day percentage loss since January 28.

"The market is under high inflation pressure. If the March consumer price index surpassed eight percent, the central bank is likely to hike interest rates or reserve requirements," said Zhang Gang, an analyst at Central China Securities.

Zhang said that the market would be unlikely to bottom out in the near term unless the government released market-friendly policies.

Property developers continued to fall further as investors apparently shrugged off news of strong profit forecasts.

Leading property developer Poly Real Estate lost over seven percent even though it reported that first-quarter net profit rose over 230 percent year-on-year.

The Shanghai A-share Index fell 40.95 points or 1.18 percent to 3,418.06, while the Shenzhen A-share Index lost 12.67 points or 1.20 percent to 1,046.55.