1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares rise for 5th day

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's major stock indices rose for a fifth consecutive trading day Thursday to the highest level since Nov. 22, led by strong performance in the oil sector.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.49 percent to end at 3,385.71 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.54 percent higher at 11,341.35 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses stood at 496 billion yuan (76.3 billion U.S. dollars), down from 532 billion yuan the previous day.

The oil sector was the strongest during Thursday trading, with the sub-index up 4.59 percent.

PetroChina, the country's largest oil and gas producer, rose 3.39 percent to 8.55 yuan per share. Sinopec, the largest oil refiner in China, surged 6.65 percent to 6.9 yuan.

The liquor, cement and coal sectors also saw strong performance on Thursday, with the sub-indices up 2.59 percent, 1.88 percent and 1.2 percent.

Bucking the trend, the financial sector was among the weakest.

ICBC, the country's largest commercial bank, was down 1.46 percent. China Construction Bank dropped 1.81 percent.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, closed 0.04 percent lower at 1,794.61 points. Enditem