BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the tourism and electronics sectors leading the gain.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.46 percent to close at 2,999.28 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.01 percent higher at 9,852.2 points.
The combined trading volume of stocks in the two indexes expanded to 491.5 billion yuan (about 69.5 billion U.S. dollars) from 487.2 billion yuan the previous trading day.
On Shanghai bourse, most stocks climbed, with gainers outnumbering losers by 1,076 to 309. And on Shenzhen bourse, gainers outnumbered losers by 1,628 to 440.
Companies in the tourism industry saw robust growth in its share price. Shares of Utour Group Co., Ltd. surged 8.41 percent to close at 6.06 yuan per share, while that of the Zhang Jia Jie Tourism Group Co., Ltd. climbed 6.99 percent to 5.82 yuan.
Bucking the upward trend, shares in the petroleum sector led the losses, with the Tong Petrotech Corp. falling 3.8 percent to 5.57 yuan.
The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.57 percent to close at 1,705.6 points.
