China shares hover near 7-year highs

Investors look through stock information at a trading hall of a securities firm in Shanghai, east China, March 18, 2015. (Photo: Xinhua/Ding Ting)

Chinese shares consolidated near a seven-year high on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.14 percent to finish at 3,582.27 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index went down 0.54 percent to close at 12,429.11 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses amounted to 1.10 trillion yuan (180 billion U.S. dollars), down from the previous session.

A total of 79 stocks on the two markets jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent, with big gainers including railway, power and stocks related with the "One Belt and One Road" initiative.

State-owned enterprises in infrastructure and power saw rising share prices over reports of impending program agendas of the "One Belt and One Road" initiative and electricity price mechanism reforms.

China Railway Construction Corporation Limited and China Railway Group Limited both rose 10 percent to reach 16.27 yuan and 10.0 yuan per share respectively.

Stocks related with the gold sector also gained a lot after the country's central bank announced Thursday that China will impose restrictions on the import and export of gold and gold products in line with demand changes.

Airline,airport and financial stocks suffered losses after strong performances in the previous days.

The market is expected to remain bullish thanks to the adjustment of undervalued blue chips, policy stimulus for some subdued sectors and prospects of further SOEs reforms, said Gao Yi, an analyst with CITIC Securities.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.96 percent to end at a new high of 2,183.88 points.

The Market Maker Index for the New Three Board, a national equity exchange platform for non-listed medium and small-sized companies, rose 0.64 percent.