BEIJING - Chinese stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.84 percent, at 3,030.15 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 2.43 percent higher at 11,509.09 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices stood at 1.07 trillion yuan (about US$152.8 billion), expanding from 1.04 trillion yuan the previous trading day.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 1,301 to 167 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,866 to 291 in Shenzhen.

Stocks in the securities and insurance sectors led the gains, with shares of the Tianfeng Securities Co Ltd surging by the daily limit of 10 percent to 6.88 yuan.

Bucking the upward trend, shares related to vaccines and masks sector led the losses.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 2.21 percent to close at 2,186.73 points Thursday.