Investors monitor stock market performance at a trading house in Yichang, Central China's Hubei Province. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 percent yesterday to close at 3,041 points. [China Daily]

This was the first time the index had closed past the 3,000-point barrier.

The Shanghai Composite Index, the most widely watched indicator of the mainland stock market, rose 42 points, with 728 stocks of the 907 closing higher.

Turnover on the Shanghai Stock Exchange amounted to 91 billion yuan, slightly less than the 94 billion yuan on February 16 before the market closed for the holiday.

Stocks in the non-ferrous metals sector rose the most, nearly all of them up yesterday. Jiangxi Copper and Yunnan Copper surged to their daily limits to close at 17.7 yuan and 18.3 yuan respectively, encouraged by strong international copper commodity prices. Yunnan Aluminum, which posted a 122 percent growth in net profit for 2006, surged 6 percent to close at 16 yuan.

Companies in the steel industry also performed well. Baotou Steel jumped to its daily limit to close at 5 yuan. Baosteel, the largest iron and steelmaker in China, surged 8 percent to close at 10 yuan. "Investors are turning to steel stocks, which they consider to be undervalued," said Zhang Yidong, an analyst at Industrial Securities.

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