Chinese shares close higher Thursday

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.04 percent at 3,172.1 points.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.1 percent higher at 10,359.09 points. The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, ended 0.27 percent higher at 1,850.39 points.