China stocks extend rally to 2-1/2 month high, led by financials

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's stocks rallied to two-and-a-half-month highs on Thursday, led by securities brokerages and banks after benchmark indexes posted their best day in seven weeks in the previous session.

The CSI300 index rose 3.2 percent to 3,744.61 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.7 percent, to 3,552.76 points.

The optimism over a connect scheme between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock markets continued, driving shares of securities firms and other related financial sectors.

"The surging brokerage shares yesterday attracted a lot of money into the market, supporting the further rise today. Banking shares are pushed by the brokerages," said Liu Jingde, an analyst at Cinda Securities in Beijing.

Liu expected the main indexes to scale 4,000 points in the near future.

Among the securities brokerages to hit a daily upward limit of 10 percent were Industrial Securities, SW Securities, Everbright, Huatai Security and Soochow Securities.

The banking and energy indexes both surged 3.2 percent.

The telecommunication services index soared more than 5 percent after China's industry ministry said it would deepen reforms and consider mergers in the sector.

The infrastructure index and the industry index both jumped more than 4 percent. The transportation sector advanced nearly 4 percent.

Moreover, the unexpected talks between Xi Jinping and the leader of neighbouring Taiwan on Saturday continued boosting shares related to the coastal Fujian province, a key region for closer economic ties between Taiwan and China.

Hong Kong stock index edged up on Thursday, but it was pressured by faltering shares in other Asian markets after the U.S. central bank hinted at a December interest rate hike.

The Hang Seng index added 0.2 percent, to 23,106.39 points, and the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.0 percent, to 10,665.02.

(Reporting by Ruby Lian, Pete Sweeney and Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)