Chinese stocks closed higher Wednesday, partly driven by strong performance of shares related to environmental protection.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.26 percent to close at 3,396.9 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.86 percent higher at 11,437.21 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 389.45 billion yuan (around 58.7 billion U.S. dollars) from 407.15 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.61 percent to close at 1,913.26 points.

Shares related to environmental protection projects led the rise, with Scimee Science and Technology Co., Ltd. surging by the daily limit of 10 percent.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a guideline on accelerating the development of environmental protection equipment manufacturing industry.

China aims to boost the output of the sector to 1 trillion yuan (about 151 billion U.S. dollars) by 2020, according to the guideline.

The manufacturing process must be smarter and greener, with the Internet of Things, robots and intelligent solutions widely applied in the environmental protection equipment industry, it said.

Bucking the trend, shares of alcohol producers delcined, with Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd losing 0.9 percent and Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd falling 0.29 percent.