China Shares Rise to 7-week High, Metals Surge

China's main stock index rose to a seven-week high in heavy trade on Friday, led by non-ferrous metals shares and a rebound in insurance stocks.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC ended the morning up 0.60 percent at 5,352.001 points, after hitting an intra-day high of 5,372.047, its highest level since Nov. 15.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares stayed heavy at 77.4 billion yuan ($10.6 billion) against Thursday morning's 88.2 billion yuan. On Thursday, turnover surged to its highest level since mid-October, when the index was hitting its all-time peak of 6,124 points.

Traders said the index was testing important technical resistance on its 60-day moving average, now at 5,347 points, and that the strong turnover suggested a clean break was possible.

"After a few days consolidating around 5,300, the index is likely to target the 5,400 to 5,500 area," said Chen Huiqin, analyst at Huatai Securities.

Losing Shanghai stocks actually outnumbered gainers by 539 to 310 on Friday morning, because of profit-taking after the market's broad-based rise on Thursday.

But PetroChina, the biggest stock, climbed 0.97 percent to 31.38 yuan.

Among non-ferrous metals shares, which were boosted by the big gains of copper and zinc prices on the London Metal Exchange overnight, Jiangxi Copper surged 7.86 percent to 55.43 yuan.

Some bank shares recovered slightly after sliding in recent days on worries about tightening monetary policy, while China Life Insurance rebounded 1.10 percent to 56.10 yuan.

Gold shares were strong for a fourth straight day with Shandong Gold soaring 8.35 percent to 207.60 yuan, bringing its gain in the past four days to 30 percent.

Brokerage shares outperformed on hopes that the higher market turnover would be sustained and boost commission income. Pacific Securities 601099.SS shot up 7.93 percent to 42.35 yuan. ($1 = 7.28 yuan)