Investors in the Chinese stock market have turned a blind eye to the country's highest monthly consumer price index in ten years and the mortgage crisis in the United States, propelling the major index to a new high yesterday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 52.72 points, or 1.09 percent, to 4,872.79 points, closing in on the 5,000-point mark. The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller stock exchange rose 235.78 points, or 1.46 percent, to 16,351.89 points.

Securities companies led the advance. Citic Securities soared 8.51 percent to stand at 82.48 yuan per share. Companies with heavy investment in financial institutions also contributed a lot to Tuesday's rise. Shanghai Dazhong PUs jumped 5.66 percent to 13.43 yuan per share.

Futures-related stocks also saw significant rises on Tuesday as China is expected to launch its stock index futures this year.

Banks, the major force driving the index up in previous days, failed to continue their upward trend. Eight of the twelve banks listed on the Chinese mainland stock market dropped. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was down 0.70 percent to close at 7.05 yuan per share. The Bank of China which soared nearly nine percent on Monday dropped 1.71 percent to stand at 6.20 yuan per share.

The combined turnover on the two bourses was around 195 billion yuan (25.76 billion U.S. dollars) on Tuesday, much lower than 235 billion yuan for Monday.