When Li Yan, a 40-year-old lawyer, got his end-of-year bonus last week, buying stocks was the last thing on his mind. "It's not a wise move to buy shares before Spring Festival. Everybody knows the market goes down during this time," the veteran investor said confidently.

But Li should remember he lives in a mercurial world.

As China's stocks rose for a fourth day yesterday, it became clear that we've seen the last of the "holiday rule". The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 3.03 percent to close at 2993.01 points.

Investors used to believe that the week before Spring Festival was a "bad time", because demand for holiday cash left insufficient funds in the market. But market conditions have dramatically changed.

The end of a consumer price surge has eased investor speculation on an immediate interest rate hike.

When the consumer price index jumped 2.8 percent on the previous year in December, it fueled market expectation that the central bank would raise the interest rate soon. But figures for January released on Wednesday a comparatively smaller increase at 2.2 percent on 2006 eased speculation of an immediate interest rate hike.

But the central bank's move to suspend the issue of commercial bills this week helped add 133 billion yuan in money supply to the market.

Sufficient money supply has seen bank shares become, once again, highly sought after.

When China Everbright Bank reported a 22 percent jump in profit, it helped Bank of China rise 4 percent to close at 4.94 yuan; China Minsheng Banking Corp to rise 4.35 percent to close at 13.18 yuan; and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to rise 2.58 percent to close at 5.17 yuan.

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