The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, the major Chinese share index, climbed to close at 2,715.72 points on Thursday, the first trading day of the year, up 1.5 percent from the previous close.

Chinese shares opened stronger, with the Shanghai Composite at 2,728.19 points, up 52.71 points, or 1.97 percent higher.

The Component Stock Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 6,705.34 points, up 0.88 percent from the previous close.

Boosted by a bullish market, and lower international oil prices, airline, auto and steel stocks rose sharply.

China Unicom, Shanghai Bao Steel and the Bank of China all reported strong rises in the morning. During the last hour of the afternoon session, however, bank stocks started to slump, pulling down the benchmark index.

Dealers believe the dive of bank stocks is related to the simultaneous slump of financial stocks -- including China Life and China Merchants Bank -- on the Hong Kong market.

Some bank shares have become too expensive, dealers said. In the past month, share prices of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China jumped more than 30 percent.