China stocks end up 0.7 pct, rise for fifth day

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SHANGHAI, March 20 (Reuters) - China's main stock index rose for a fifth straight day in heavy trade on Friday, led by non-ferrous metal producers and oil firms after a jump by global crude oil futures.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC was lower at noon but ended the day up 0.68 percent at 2,281.087 points, off a high of 2,294.117. It rose 7.2 percent over the week, boosted in part by short-term speculation that has been fuelled by loose liquidity in China's capital markets.

Heavily weighted PetroChina (601857.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) surged 4.80 percent to 11.57 yuan in its most active trade since last September, after U.S. crude oil futures settled above $50 on Thursday for the first time in almost four months.

But since PetroChina has major refining operations, high crude prices do not necessarily help its margins, so some analysts said they doubted the stock's strength could be sustained.

Non-ferrous metals continued to outperform after leading the market's gains earlier this week on the back of rising global copper prices. Jiangxi Copper (600362.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped its 10 percent daily limit to 22.33 yuan after gaining 23 percent in the previous four days.

Zhongjin Gold (600489.SS: Quote, Profile, Research) also rose 10 percent, to 57.38 yuan, after advancing 6.56 percent on Thursday, as the global spot gold price rose in response to the U.S. Federal Reserve's easing of quantitative monetary policy this week.

The 2,300-point level, where the late February peak roughly coincides with the 200-day average, is seen as immediate resistance by many analysts. Stronger technical resistance is believed to lie around 2,400, the February peak. ($1 = 6.82 Yuan) (Reporting by Claire Zhang; Editing by Andrew Torchia)