The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, a major index of Chinese shares, closed at a record 2,993.01 points on Thursday.

The index, which covers both yuan-denominated A-shares and foreign currency-denominated B-shares, opened at 2,923.67 points and hit an all-time high of 2,994.62 points in the afternoon.

The index is expected to top 3,000 points on February 16, the last trading day before the Spring Festival, said analysts.

The component index of the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange also hit an all-time high of 8,584.49 points and closed at 8,582.91 points on Thursday, up 267.00 points from the previous trading day.

The combined turnover of the two bourses soared to 135.8 billion yuan (17.4 billion U.S. dollars) from 114.77 billion yuan on Jan. 14 and 95.59 billion yuan on Jan. 13.

The vast majority of the shares moved up - including 852 on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and 604 on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange - with 80 of them going up by the maximum ten percent.

The newly listed Xindian, Haicheng and Sanwei soared 206.94 percent, 178.49 percent and 114.75 percent.

The heavyweight Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 2.58 percent to close at 5.17 yuan, China Life edged up 4.34 percent to finish at 37.99 yuan and the Bank of China rose four percent to 4.94 yuan.

Shares of the securities, telecommunications, metallurgical, air transport and dairy sectors were the main driving forces behind the hikes.

Analysts believed the direct cause of the hike was that the 1.1-trillion-yuan in subscriptions reaped by Ping An Insurance (Group) Co. in its initial public offering thawed out on Thursday, resulting in a huge amount of capital flowing into the stock market.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slumped to around 2,600 points last week, after breaking the 2,900-point mark for the first time in history on Jan. 22.

But it bounced back to 2,900 points on Feb. 14 as the annual reports issued by 120 Chinese listed companies showed 85-percent increase in net profits.