Chinese stocks surge in morning trade

BEIJING -- Chinese shares surged suddenly near the end of morning trade on Friday, led by State-owned banks and oil giants.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed 3.19 percent to end the morning trade at 2,148.39 points. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 2.91 percent to end at 8,468.58 points.

Industrial 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), 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.