Chinese stocks surge in morning trade

Chinese shares surged suddenly near the end of morning trade on Friday, led by financial sector and oil giants.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index reversed early losses to shoot up 3.19 percent and end the morning trade at 2,148.39 points, a two-month high. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 2.91 percent to end at 8,468.58 points in the morning session.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's largest lender, and PetroChina, the nation's biggest oil and gas producer, both rose briefly near the daily increase limit of 10 percent before pulling back.

ICBC was up 4.05 percent to end the morning trade at 4.11 yuan (0.66 U.S. dollars), while PetroChina gaining 3.86 percent to 8.34 yuan.

Shortly after the morning session closed, Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a statement on its official weibo account that its trading system was operating normally, in response to rumors the sudden burst was caused by a system abnormality.

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