Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.67 percent, at 3,272.05 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.01 percent lower at 10,801.25 points. The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.41 percent to close at 1,776.99 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 350 billion yuan (about 53 billion U.S. dollars) from 393.4 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Most shares fell on the two bourses, with losers outnumbering gainers by 798 to 446 in Shanghai and 1,047 to 786 in Shenzhen.

The financial sector led the decline. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest lender, dropped 1.17 percent to 5.9 yuan per share. Leading broker Citic Securities shed 3.37 percent to 18.61 yuan.

In its latest effort to rein in risks from the fast growing, loosely regulated cash loan industry, China's financial regulators issued a notice that bans unlicensed firms or individuals from carrying out lending business.

The new rule, aimed at cleaning up the cash loan market, is expected to cause a massive shake-up in the industry, with thousands of unlicensed businesses to be impacted, according to analysts.

Bucking the trend, the airplane manufacturing sector gained. Guangzhou Hangxin Aviation Technology rose 4.93 percent to 22.99 yuan per share.