SHANGHAI stocks inched up this morning, led by property developers, after data showed home prices in China rose in May for 12 months in a row.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 6.39 points, or 0.28 percent, to 2,306.98. Trading volume was 52.2 billion yuan (US$8.6 billion) by midday.

Average home price in China's 100 major cities gained 0.81 percent in May, its 12th straight month of growth, to 10,200 yuan per square meter, according to China Index Academy today.

The average price rose 6.9 percent year on year, 1.56 percentage points higher than the pace of April.

Poly Real Estate, China's second-largest developer, added 1.6 percent to 12.43 yuan. Gemdale Corporation climbed 2.7 percent to 7.96 yuan.

Chinese regulators last month approved US$681 million worth of investment quotas to Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors, compared with US$137 million in April, according to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

New approvals brought this year's QFII investment quotas to US$42.6 billion by the end of May.

Brokerages gained. CITIC Securities, China's biggest listed broker, rose 0.8 percent to 13.10 yuan. Founder Securities advanced 2.4 percent to 7.74 yuan. Haitong Securities increased 1.3 percent to 12.27 yuan.