Stocks News
- Stock accounts total 100m
Date: 30-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
THE number of stock accounts in China is now around 100 million, according to official data, a figure equivalent to 17 percent of the country's urban population.
As of Friday, the number of accounts for the trading of A shares, B shares and securities funds on both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges totaled 99.82 million, the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp. said on its Web site.
The number of such accounts has recently been increasing by about 300,000 each day, so it likely totals more than 100 million now. This compares with nearly 80 million accounts at the start of this year.
Class A shares are denominated in the yuan and open only to local investors and certain qualified foreign investors, while class B shares are denominated in U.S. dollars in Shanghai and Hong Kong dollars in Shenzhen and are open to domestic individuals as well as foreign investors.
The growth of new trading accounts comes as the stock market continues to boom. Over the past 13 months, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has tripled in value on persistently strong liquidity.
China's main stock index climbed above 4,300 points for the first time yesterday, boosted by property and coal shares, though some institutional investors worried the market might be overheating.
The Shanghai Composite Index ended the day up 1.47 percent at 4,334.924 points, slightly more than a point off its record intra-day high.
Rising stocks outnumbered losers by 563 to 281. Turnover in Shanghai A shares was very heavy at 243.5 billion yuan (US$31.8 billion), though down from Monday's 251.8 billion.
Individual investors continued piling into stocks.
'The index is higher than expected but I think the bull run will not stop this year, even if there is a temporary pull-back caused by government efforts to cool the market,' said Zhang Yanbing, analyst at Kinghing Securities. He said the index might reach 5,000 points in 2007.
But many institutions believe that with the index up 62 percent this year, a substantial pull-back is likely. One catalyst could be the launch of stock index futures, if investors sell blue chip components of the futures index to hedge buying of the futures.
A front-page report in the official China Securities Journal yesterday quoted Fan Fuchun, deputy chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as saying the futures would be launched at the 'right time' after preparations were completed.
His remarks contained nothing new from previous official statements, but they implied to some traders that the launch might occur in the next few months.
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