An investor at a stock bourse in Huaibei city, East China's Anhui province, July 15, 2015. [Photo/IC]

The stock market recovery that began in China last week after a slew of government steps to halt a crash ran abruptly out of steam on Wednesday, with markets dropping sharply in afternoon trade despite positive economic data.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 3.03 percent at 3805.70. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index plummeted 4.68 percent to close at 12,132.42 points.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, dived 4.99 percent to end at 2,590.03 points.

"Sentiment is still weak," said Du Changchun, analyst at Northeast Securities in Shanghai, noting that he believed most investors were selling to cash in on a brief, if sharp, rally that pushed up indexes over 10 percent last week.

Du was referring to steps China has taken to halt a sharp collapse in main indexes, which have included requiring brokerages to buy up shares, cracking down on derivatives markets.