Market rally continues amid stimulus expectations

Support measures such as RRR cut anticipated

Chinese stocks soared to their highest level since mid-2011 on Thursday, led by financial and oil shares, as the markets' rally on expectations of further economic stimulus measures showed no signs of losing steam.

Most economists believe it is not a question of whether the Chinese central government will roll out more support measures but when, with many expecting both further interest rate cuts and reductions in banks' reserve requirement ratios (RRR).

The CSI 300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 4.6 percent - its biggest one-day percentage gain since July 2013 - to 3,104.35 points.

The CSI 300 has now surged 20 percent since the People's Bank of China, the central bank, cut interest rates on November 21, stepping up efforts to support the country.

The Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 4.31 percent or 119.93 points to 2,899.46 points, its biggest daily percentage gain since December 2012.

The Shenzhen Component Index surged by 4.00 percent to 10,029.83 points, the first time in 21 months it has hit the 10,000 level.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Thursday was 887.52 billion yuan ($144.19 billion), a record-high level.

Almost all of the 19 listed brokerages soared by over 9 percent on expectations that more investors will pile into the market, with 14 brokerages hitting their 10 percent daily limit.

Oil shares also performed strongly, with China's biggest energy firms PetroChina and Sinopec both rising by the 10 percent daily limit to 9.21 yuan and 6.25 yuan, respectively.

Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China, up 3.52 percent to 3.53 yuan, and Minsheng Bank, up 9.37 percent to 8.99 yuan.

In Shenzhen, the most active stocks included BOE Technology, up 3.1 percent to 2.99 yuan, and TCL Corp, up 1.5 percent to 3.51 yuan.

Foreign investment flowing into Shanghai from Hong Kong through the mutual market access pilot program took up 3.52 billion yuan of the 13 billion yuan daily quota.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen, rose by 17.40 points or 1.08 percent to 1,621.85 points on Thursday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose by 1.72 percent to 23,832.56 yuan.