BEIJING, Feb. 5 -- Chinese stocks opened higher on Thursday morning, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 2.43 percent, or 77.09 points, to open at 3,251.21.

The Shenzhen Component Index opened at 11,367.14, up 2.25 percent, or 250.59 points.

The sectors of securities, insurance and real estate companies led the increase by over 2 percent respectively, and the sub index of bank shares surged 5.04 percent at the opening.

China's central bank announced Wednesday to lower banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points starting Thursday.

The People's Bank of China also increased support to some target areas, cutting the RRR by an extra 50 basis points for certain commercial banks engaged in proportionate lending to small firms, the farming sector and major water projects.