Chinese shares open higher on Thursday

Chinese stocks opened higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up by 0.5 percent, at 2,881.78 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index opened 0.68 percent higher at 10,231.26 points, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.7 percent to open at 2,230.8 points.