A woman smiles in front of an electronic board displaying stock prices in Huaibei, East China's Anhui province, April 12, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

BEIJING - Chinese shares enjoyed their largest boost in two months, buoyed by news that the booming city of Shenzhen will usher in key financial reform to boost the real economy.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 1.82 percent, or 41.94 points, to end at 2,350.86.

The Shenzhen Component Index gained 2.09 percent, or 205.33 points, to end at 10,007.65.

The combined turnover increased to 165.5 billion yuan from Wednesday's 127.4 billion yuan.

The Shenzhen authority Thursday approved a set of documents which included pilot reform programs in bond, private equity and yuan's cross-border trade, and aimed to boost the small enterprises and the strategically emerging industries such as new energy research and development.

The Shenzhen-based financial institutions rallied at the news. The Shenzhen Development Bank increased 3.16 percent to 16.33 yuan. The China Merchants Bank ended at 12.01 yuan, up 2.04 percent.

Securities brokers rose counting on the hope that these reforms would boost their commission revenues. The Citic Securities Co. Ltd went up 4.09 percent to 12.99 yuan. Haitong Securities closed at 10.22 yuan, an increase of 4.39 percent.

The cross-board optimism boosted the long-bullish real estate developers. China Vanke, the country's largest property developer by market value, rose 2.24 percent to 8.68 yuan. Poly Real Estate, China's second-largest developer, increased 1.61 percent to 11.97 yuan.

China is scheduled to release key economic data in the first quarter Friday. Analysts said the expectations for a slowdown would possibly drive down the stocks.