Strong growth in the non-ferrous metal sector propelled the stock market in morning trading.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, rose 0.94 percent, or 55.7 points, to 5,958.96 at 11:30am.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller mainland stock market, gained 0.04 percent, or 0.6 point, to 1,518.24.

Decliners outnumbered gainers by 560 to 318 and turnover totaled 104.87 billion yuan (US$14 billion) on the Shanghai market.

Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd jumped 6.16 percent to 59.45 yuan per share and Inner Mongolia-based Baotou Aluminum Co rose 3.91 percent to 79.98 yuan.

Brokers kept rallying after Haitong Securities Co reported a 15-fold surge in net profit.

The Shanghai-based broker reported on Friday that its nine-month net income was on track to exceed four billion yuan, compared with 259.7 million yuan in the same period last year.

Haitong surged 9.3 percent to 60.03 yuan and Northeast Securities Co jumped 9.23 percent to 70.50 yuan.

Citic Securities Co rose 4.38 percent to 108.92 yuan after saying it won regulatory approval to invest overseas on behalf of its clients.

The brokerage joins more than 20 financial institutions approved to invest outside of China under the country's qualified domestic institutional investor program, the company said.

Real estate companies reported widespread drops in the morning on speculation that the government will introduce a property tax next year.

A well-informed source told the China Securities Journal that the country is expected to levy a property tax in 10 regions on a trial basis next year.

The tax is aimed at cutting housing prices.

China Vanke, the biggest publicly traded real estate developer in terms of market value, slid 5.17 percent to 31.19 yuan while Poly Real Estate lost 5.26 percent to 72 yuan.

(By Winny Wang, Shanghai Daily)