China's fixed asset investment in urban areas surged 25.9 percent year-on-year to 3,205 billion yuan (US$420 billion) between January and May, the National Bureau of Statistics announced on Friday.

The rate was 0.4 percentage points higher than the 25.5 percent growth in the first fourth months.

The acceleration in fixed asset investment growth came despite the cooling measures introduced by China's central bank this year.

In its latest attempt, the People's Bank of China raised the one-year deposit rate by 0.27 of a percentage point to 3.06 percent and the loan interest rate by 0.18 of a percentage point to 6.57 percent on May 19.

Investment in the real estate sector totaled 721 billion yuan (US$95 billion) in the first five months, up 27.5 percent on the same period last year, the NBS said.

Investment in the nonmetal mineral sector grew at the highest rate of 53 percent to 81 billion yuan, it noted.

Investment in the petroleum and gas extraction sector surged 23 percent year-on-year to 54 billion yuan, and that of the coal industry climbed 14 percent to 36 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, the power and heating sector saw investment grow by 11 percent year-on-year to 237 billion yuan in the first five months.

(Xinhua News Agency June 16, 2007)