Chinese share prices rebounded from a plunge of more then 4.6-percent in the morning session to close by falling just 0.73 percent on Tuesday, thanks to overall gains in the banking sector.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,157.84 points, down 15.9 points, or 0.73 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 7,181.28 points, down 36.05 points, or 0.5 percent.

Aggregate turnover was 65.45 billion yuan ($9.61 billion). Losses outnumbered gains 889 to 649, while 170 stocks were unchanged. It was the second straight drop in two days after the weeklong National Day holiday. On Monday, Chinese shares tumbled 5.23 percent.

In the wake of Monday's global market nosedive, the Shanghai index opened at 2,101.09 points on Tuesday, down 72.65 points or 3.3 percent from Monday's close at 2,173.74. The Shenzhen index opened at 6,939.68, down 277.63 points or 3.8 percent from Monday's 7,217.32-point close.

Shares continued to fall after the opening and tumbled as much as 4.62 percent to the day's low at 2,072.90 points within 15 minutes.

They began a gradual rebound after heavyweight bank shares recovered from their initial losses. There was speculation that the Central Huijin Investment Co Ltd, an investment arm of sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, once again bought stocks in the country's top three commercial banks.

Shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest lender, rose 2.21 percent to close at 4.16 yuan. The Bank of China rose 0.57 percent to 3.5 yuan, and China Construction Bank rose 0.68 percent to 4.47 yuan.

Shares of the banking sector rose 1.06 percent on average. Only three banks fell, with China Merchants Bank dropping the most by 1.7 percent.

Gains of property shares also helped the Chinese stock market to mitigate heavy losses in early trading.

The property sector surged 2.29 percent amid market speculation that China's central bank might unveil more market-rescue measures, such as cutting interest rate and the reserve requirement ratio to boost lending.

Three real estate firms -- Lvjing Real Estate, Gemdale and Waigaoqiao -- rose by the 10 percent daily limit. China Vanke, the largest publicly traded property firm, advanced 4.78 percent to 6.57 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group Co rose 6.18 percent to 15.3 yuan.

Analysts said the tumble in early trading resulted from investor worries about the impact of Monday's global slump on the Chinese market and the outlook of the world economy.

But a combination of favorable government policies and optimism among investors helped the market recover quickly, they said.