(Yicai Global) Sept. 23 -- Chinese stock markets closed higher this morning in the slipstream of rising pharmaceutical shares, and the ChiNext, which tracks growth enterprises listed in Shenzhen, outperformed the main boards.

The ongoing spread of Covid-19 pushed pharma stocks up 3 percent overall.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.02 percent to 3,275.09 at the lunch break, while the Shenzhen Component Index climbed 0.37 percent to 13,071.03. The ChiNext rose 1.47 percent to 2,593.08.

Among the stars of the show, Vanfund Urban Investment & Development [SHE:000638] soared 10.07 percent to the daily limit to stop trading at CNY7.65, while Tianjin Ringpu Bio-Technology [SHE:300119] surged 9.75 percent to CNY21.73.

Editor: Ben Armour