SHANGHAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - China shares ended higher on Tuesday after data showed exports in the world’s second-largest economy unexpectedly grew at a faster pace last month, and as officials pledged to push further opening of capital markets to foreign investors. ** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.51% at 3,676.59 points. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index closed 1.2% higher, with its financial sector sub-index climbing 2.01%, the real-estate index up 0.37% and the healthcare sub-index down 0.16%. ** Shipments from the world’s biggest exporter in August rose at a faster-than-expected rate of 25.6% from a year earlier, from a 19.3.% gain in July, pointing to some resilience in China’s industrial sector. ** China will further open its capital markets to foreign investors, the top securities regulator said on Monday, adding that it will pursue pragmatic cross-border cooperation to regulate overseas-listed Chinese companies. ** Foreign investors were net buyers of A-shares through the Stock Connect programme, with Refinitiv data showing net inflows of 10.46 billion yuan ($1.62 billion) for the day. ** The materials sector jumped 3.41% and the consumer discretionary sub-index rose 1.22%. ** The smaller Shenzhen index ended 1.13% higher and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.725%. ** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.04%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.86%. ** At 0700 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4565 per U.S. dollar, 0.02% firmer than the previous close of 6.458. ** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index climbed 5.9% and the CSI300 dropped 4.2%, while China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong was down 11.8%. Shanghai stocks advanced 3.74% this month. $1 = 6.4569 Chinese yuan Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.