Chinese shares slumped sharply on profit-taking today, with the major Shanghai index down 8.84 percent, the biggest daily drop in 10 years.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, covers both A- and B-shares, plunged 8.84 percent to closed at 2,771.79 points, the biggest daily dive since Feb. 18 in 1997 when the index dropped 8.91 percent.

The component index of the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange lost 9.29 percent, or 797.87 points to end at 7,790.82 points. Turnover on the two bourses totaled 198.9 billion yuan (24.8 billion U.S. dollars).

Prices of 1,263 shares, out of the country's 1,400 domestically listed companies, were down. More than 900 stocks plunged to the downward limit of 10 percent, and only 57 gained.

Market heavyweights declined, with shares of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slid 8.04 percent to 4.69 yuan and that of the Bank of China fell 7.23 percent to 4.62 yuan.

China Life, the country's biggest life insurer, lost 9.02 percent to 33.89 yuan.

Banking shares experienced heavy loses after the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, raised the required reserve ratio for financial institutions engaging in deposit business by 0.5 percentage points to 10 percent on Sunday.

Share price of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, known as Sinopec, slid 10 percent, the daily maximum, after crude oil price hit a two-month high on Monday on higher heating oil demand boosted by winter storm in the United States.

Light sweet crude for April delivery added 25 cents to 61.39 U.S. dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since Dec. 22.

"As the indices stand at unprecedented highs, the risks are also piled up high," said securities analyst Qiu Yanying. But he believed the slump was a regular market adjustment.

Chinese shares climbed to a new high Monday, the first trading day of the Year of Pig, as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 42.13 points to closed at 3,040.60 points.