Chinese shares continued to rebound Wednesday after Monday's steep retreat, led by strong gains by brokerages and resource firms.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index logged the biggest daily gain in more than a month, rising 1.36 percent to close at a three-month high of 3,230.98 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 1.90 percent to 10,295.58 points.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth companies, gained 1.04 percent to close at 1,684.77. The index plunged 5.11 percent Monday to its lowest level in more than one year.

Most shares gained, with gainers outnumbering losers by 1,055 to 131 at the Shanghai bourse and by 1,380 to 373 in Shenzhen.

Wednesday's rebound was bolstered by gains by resource producers and brokerage firms.

Brokerage firms rose across the board, with the whole sector up 6.54 percent. Shanxi Securities, Orient Securities and Guosen Securities all increased by the daily limit of 10 percent.

The non-ferrous metal, steel and coal mining sectors went up, lifted by robust first-half earnings.

Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead Co., Ltd. rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 8.31 yuan (about 1.2 U.S. dollars). China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-tech, the country's largest rare earth producer, rose 2.57 percent to 14.36 yuan, while shares of Rising Non-ferrous Metals Share added 4.51 percent to reach 49.15 yuan.

Pingdingshan Tianan Coal Mining and Anhui Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity Power both surged by the 10-percent daily limit to 6.49 yuan and 11.65 yuan, respectively.