Chinese shares gained Wednesday as market sentiment was encouraged by faster growth of industrial profits, but the rise remained limited with trading still thin.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.05 percent to close at 3,345.27 points. The Shenzhen Component Index posted a much stronger increase of 0.79 percent to finish at 11,036.78 points.

The performance represented a continued mild recovery from a 1.26-percent slump registered Monday.

Improving factory activity helped prop up the market. China's major industrial firms posted a year-on-year profit increase of 21.6 percent in the first eight months, the National Bureau of Statistics said.

But trading was subdued. Total turnover at the two bourses stood at 418.19 billion yuan (more than 63 billion U.S. dollars), mildly higher than the less than 400 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Shares related to 5G technology, quantum communication, and the steel sector led the rises, while banks and travel companies saw the hardest declines across the board.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.84 percent to close at 1,854.94 points.