SHANGHAI stocks advanced yesterday amid rising hopes of improvement in market liquidity after regulators resumed approval of quotas for overseas institutions to invest in the domestic equity market in yuan.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.62 percent, or 13.86 points, to 2,246.83 points. The index was up 1.87 percent this week, a second straight week of gain.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has granted China Asset Management an extra quota of 2 billion yuan (US$323 million) under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, the first such issuance after a more than two-month suspension, the Securities Daily reported yesterday.

Analysts said the reboot of quota approval will boost stock market liquidity and is expected to channel 40-60 billion yuan into the market in the next six months, according to the report.

Prices are largely stable but uncertainties about prices of housing, services and farm produce remain, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said in a quarterly report.

Gemdale Corp gained among estate developers, rising 2.6 percent to 7.42 yuan, after posting a 20-percent year-on-year hike in contracted sales in April.