Chinese shares soar more than 4 pct Thursday

Chinese shares soared by more than 4 percent on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumping by 4.31 percent to hit the highest level since May 3, 2011.

The Shanghai index surpassed the 2,800-point psychological mark in less than 30 minutes following Thursday's opening. It continued rising and reached as high as 2,900.51 several minutes before closing at 2,899.46.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index jumped by 4 percent to reach 10,029.83, surpassing the 10,000-point mark for the fist time since June 1, 2012.

Financial, coal and oil heavyweights led the charge. The financial sub-index jumped 8.17 percent, with more than 10 securities firms jumping by the daily trading limit of 10 percent, including Citic Securities, Huatai Securities and Hongyuan Securities.

In a rare scenario, two oil giants, PetroChina and Sinopec, also jumped by the daily 10 percent limit.