SHANGHAI stocks ended slightly higher yesterday after the People's Bank of China announced that China's financial situation remained stable in the first half of 2008 thanks to various monetary policies.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, added 0.76 percent, or 21.63 points, to close at 2878.26.

Turnover shrank to 59.46 billion yuan (US$7.96 billion) compared with 69.79 billion yuan last Friday, and gainers outnumbered losers 722 to 130 while 55 remained unchanged. The index reached an intra-day peak of 2895.30 points.

"The index has been adjusting for the previous three trading days but the market is not much affected by the slump in global shares and rising crude oil prices, which shows investors are still confident and further advancement of the index is expected," said Guangfa Securities in a note yesterday.

By the end of June, financial institutions had received RMB deposits of 4.39 billion yuan, up 18.85 percent from the same period last year, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China.

Gold miners gained yesterday thanks to the surge of gold prices on the international futures market. Zhongjin Gold Co Ltd rose 5.20 percent to close at 56.48 yuan while Shandong Gold Mining advanced 8.91 percent to reach 64.32 yuan. Anyang Iron & Steel Inc added 3.89 percent to 5.34 yuan.

The textile industry also surged after speculation of an adjustment to tax rebates. Ningxia Zhongyin Cashmere Co Ltd surged by the daily cap of 10 percent to 6 yuan while Shanghai Furen Industrial (Group) Co Ltd jumped 9.97 percent to close at 7.5 yuan.

Banking and real estate sectors were both sluggish. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's biggest lender, edged up 0.4 percent to 5.05 yuan and China Construction Bank added 0.16 percent to 6.11 yuan.