Stock market Photo:VCG

China's stock markets ended a losing streak on Thursday with the major indexes rising sharply, following an editorial by the Xinhua News Agency saying the country's recent regulatory changes targeting online platform economy and tutoring businesses are not part of a larger crackdown but rather a policy to foster healthy development of those industries. 

The message from Xinhua late on Wednesday had an instant calming effect, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 1.49 percent, Shenzhen Component Index up 3.04 percent and the tech-heavy ChiNext index soaring 5.32 percent on Thursday. 

More than 3,700 shares gained, and some 200 were limit-up or surged by more than 10 percent on the A-share markets. Shares of semiconductor, photovoltaic and lithium ion battery makers led the gains.

"The downbeat expectations of investors have been digested after days of losses, while media reports shored up confidence," Ming Ming, chief macroeconomist at CITIC Securities, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

To reassure the markets, Xinhua said that China's regulatory moves targeting some of the platform economy, and private education, are actually intended to support the country's long-term development. 

The Chinese economy remains well-positioned, its reform and opening-up pledge remains intact, the editorial added. 

The Xinhua commentary addressed market anxiety over China's recent regulatory efforts, which were also reflected in the Hong Kong stock market on Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 3.3 percent and bounced back above the 26,000-point mark, with broad gains across technology, biomedicine and online education stocks that pared days of sharp losses.

The Hang Seng TECH index skyrocketed 8 percent, its largest daily gain ever.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday suggested that people remain prudent to manage the possible risks of more market volatility, after the US Federal Reserve kept its interest rates unchanged on Wednesday.

Shares of technology giant Alibaba jumped 7.7 percent on the Hong Kong bourse on Thursday. Shares of e-commerce giant JD.com were up more than 12 percent and another technology behemoth, Tencent, closed more than 10 percent higher. 

New Oriental Education & Technology Group, one of China's largest private education firms, gained 13.47 percent in Hong Kong, after it suffered from a blood bath starting from July 23. 

The sweeping overhaul of Chinese private tutoring firms that was officially confirmed on Saturday requires these companies to be registered as non-profit organizations. Curriculum-based student tutoring companies will no longer be allowed to raise capital in the stock markets and foreign investment in the sector will be banned.

"The policy impact on market sentiment won't re-emerge in the near future, as such regulatory policies are not the norm," Zhang Xia, fund analyst at China Merchants Securities Co, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Once the factors disrupting the market are eliminated, Chinese stock markets will regain its sound footing, Zhang noted. 

Ming also pointed out that the pressure for China to achieve stable economic growth is not heavy, and the policies focus on areas that require long-term reforms. The resurgence of the coronavirus globally is another factor.

Ahead of the US market opening on Thursday, the shares of NYSE-listed Chinese education giant TAL Education Group and K-12 education platform Gaotu surged 10 percent. 

Shares of Chinese electric vehicle start-up Xpeng, e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, and real estate service provider KE Holdings Inc jumped more than 5 percent.