BEIJING - Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 2.03 percent to 4,028.9 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 3.85 percent lower at 15,498.81 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by these two indices reached 3.45 trillion yuan ($506.7 billion), down from 3.66 trillion yuan in the previous trading day.

Precious metals, fluorochemical, and synthetic diamond stocks posted notable gains, while the high-bandwidth memory sector suffered steep losses.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 5.71 percent to close at 4,017.27 points.

The STAR Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 5.64 percent lower at 2,346.28 points.