Chinese stocks gained substantially on Thursday morning as the two bourses on the mainland eased restrictions on purchases by major shareholders.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished the morning session up 87.33 points, or 3.94 percent, at 2,304.14, and the Shenzhen Component Index rose 304.52 points, or 4.30 percent, to 7,387.97.

Combined turnover amounted to 71.5 billion yuan (10.5 billion U.S. dollars), more than doubling the 35.05 billion yuan level for the morning session of the previous trading day.

Gains, led by financial and real estate sectors, outnumbered losses by 809 to 45 in Shanghai and by 708 to 32 in Shenzhen.