Stocks dive, but a good day for chickens

China stocks nosedived on Thursday, with three major indexes all slumping more than 2 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled 2. 43 percent to close at 3,123.83 points. The Shenzhen Component Index plummeted 3.21 percent to 9,907.62 points, while the blue chip CSI300 index also sank 2.19 percent to 3,941.82 points.

Stocks of about a hundred companies listed on the A-share markets slumped by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Almost all sectors posted declines, with only shares related to the chicken industry edging up, according to data from Wind Information.

Hot sectors with strong gains in the previous session such as computer shares and the fuel cell industry retreated sharply on Thursday amid the cooler market.

Computer companies such as Tsinghua Tongfang Co and Beijing Certificate Authority Co both fell 10 percent. 

Shares related to fuel cell and hydrogen energy led the drop, with stocks of nearly 20 A-share companies falling the 10 percent cap.

Coal firms, automobile, and media shares were also among the biggest decliners.

In response to market rumors on a possible tightening of monetary policy that worried investors, Sun Guofeng, head of the monetary policy department at China's central bank, said at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Thursday that the overall strength of the prudent monetary policy was appropriate.

The central bank has no intent to tighten or loose monetary policy, said Liu Guoqiang, vice director of the People's Bank of China.