BEIJING, Feb. 19 -- Most Chinese stock investors expect a market rally after the seven-day New Year holidays which started on Wednesday and smaller-cap shares are the top investment choice.

After a seven-day rising streak, nearly 70 percent of Chinese stock market investors were optimistic that the gains will be extended after the holidays, according to a survey by the Shanghai Securities News.

Stocks rose for a seventh consecutive trading day on Tuesday, the last trading day before the holidays, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) rising 0.76 percent to end at 3,246.91, more than 52 percent higher than a year earlier.

More than 80 percent of respondents said they would keep their shares instead of cashing in for profits before the holidays.

The survey also revealed that half of respondents prefer medium and small-cap shares while 44 percent choose big-cap blue chips.

Boosted by interest rate cuts in November and a wave of monetary easing in several key economies, Chinese stocks have been on the up for some months, but, due partly to stock margin trading regulations, the total turnover on the two bourses on Tuesday was only about one half of the peak in early December, insufficient to take things much higher.

Overseas market fluctuations, capital outflow triggered by RMB depreciation, domestic debt and sub-par economic data, however, are among investors' biggest concerns.

The stock market will reopen on Wednesday. In the past five years, the SCI has posted gains for four times in the week immediately after the holidays.