BEIJING, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares had a rocky opening but recouped losses in the afternoon session on Monday, ending on an upbeat note.

　　The Shanghai index gained 0.44 percent to close at 2,913.84 points. The smaller Shenzhen index climbed 1.58 percent to close at 10,155.96 points.

　　The ChiNext Index, the NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, surged 2.94 percent to close at 2,174.93 points.

　　The handsome gains posted by the ChiNext Index and small-cap stocks pulled the market back from negative territory and managed a positive closing note.

　　Total turnover on the two bourses waned, standing at 472.6 billion yuan (72.05 billion U.S. dollars).

　　Gainers outnumbered losers by 776 to 194 in Shanghai and by 1,376 to 162 in Shenzhen.

　　The sharp low at the start of Monday's trading was likely due to the slump in oil prices and the global equity rout.

　　The real-estate sector boomed on Monday on newly released data which indicated a warmer real estate sector with a pick-up in home prices.

　　According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), of the 70 large and medium-sized cities surveyed in December, real estate prices climbed month on month in 39, up from 33 in the previous month.

　　Sub-indexes related to textile, telecommunication and electrical devices were also the top gainers on Monday.

　　Over 80 stocks on two bourses gained by the daily limit of 10 percent, and over 300 stocks gained over 5 percent at closing.