Mainland sharemarkets ultimately gave a thumbs down to the People's Bank of China's decision yesterday to cut interest rates, sending Chinese shares lower for a fifth straight day after a volatile session.

The Shanghai Composite finished 1.3 per cent lower at 2,928, but had been as much as 3.9 per cent lower during the morning session and 4.3 per cent higher in afternoon trade. The Shenzhen Composite followed a similar path, closing 3.1 per cent lower at 1,695.8 and trading through a range of -4.4 per cent and 3.3 per cent, writes Peter Wells.

For such a volatile and steep bear market, it might come as a surprise that Chinese shares notched up their first five-day losing streak since early February, and for anything longer, you'd have to look back to a nine-session slide in December 2013.