China stocks surge on Wednesday

Chinese shares closed sharply higher on Wednesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ending at 3,323.61 points, up 4.75 percent.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 11,372.18 points, up 3.42 percent.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen both had extended rallies that began on Tuesday following a 7.7-percent drop of the SCI on Monday, the steepest daily fall since June 2008.

During Wednesday's trading, gainers outnumbered losers by 862 to 52 in Shanghai and by 1,242 to 152 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover of the two bourses expanded to 808.58 billion yuan (131.97 billion U.S. dollars) from 710.1 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Insurance companies, banks and securities firms led gains. China Life, the nation's largest life insurer, rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 37.84 yuan per share. Banks rose across the board with Bank of China rising 9.89 percent to 4.89 yuan.

Brokerage firms rose after data released on Tuesday showed combined net profits of 120 securities firms totaled 96.55 billion yuan last year, up 119.34 percent year on year.

Haitong Securities surged by the daily limit of 10 percent. CITIC Securities also gained 7.72 percent.

Heavyweight stocks PetroChina and Sinopec rose 7.27 percent and 4.43 percent, respectively.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, closed 1.28 percent higher at 1,722.58 points on Wednesday.