Chinese stocks close higher on last trading day before Spring Festival

Photo taken on Aug. 24, 2020 shows the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province. (Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

BEIJING, Feb. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed higher on Thursday, the last trading day before the upcoming Spring Festival holiday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.28 percent to 2,865.9 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.29 percent higher at 8,820.6 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices exceeded the threshold of 1 trillion yuan (about 140.72 billion U.S. dollars) for the second straight day.

Over 4,800 shares ended higher -- including 1,000 rising by the daily limit. Lithography machine and technology stocks posted brilliant performances.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.16 percent to close at 1,726.86 points on Thursday.

China's stock markets will be closed from Friday through next week for the Lunar New Year holidays.