BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Chinese share prices shot up by 2.46 percent, or 141.77 points, on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing at a new high of 5,913.23 points on back of the bullish run of energy and banking shares.

It was the fourth straight daily rise for the index this week.

Heavyweight shares, energy and banking shares in particular, continued to buoy the market.

Share prices of Sinopec, the country's largest oil refiner, and the newly-listed China Shenhua and China Oilfield Service Limited rose to the daily ceiling of 10 percent.

China Life followed with a 6.01-percent rise to end the day at 71.12 yuan per share.

China Merchants Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Bank of China also registered considerable gains.

More than half of the 571 listed companies that have released their third-quarter profit forecasts were expecting rising profits, with about 130 firms predicting a 100-percent increase in their third-quarter profits.

Meanwhile, smaller shares suffered more losses. The Shanghai bourse recorded 651 losers against 235 gainers, while the Shenzhen bourse saw 478 shares fall with only 171 shares rising.

The Shenzhen Component Index registered a slight increase of 0.43 percent, or 80.11 points, to end the day at 19,344.16 points.

The combined turnover on the two bourses remained high, hitting 255.1 billion yuan (about 34 billion U.S. dollars).