The market value of China's domestically listed shares totaled at about 3.11 trillion yuan (US$383.8 billion) by the end of November of 2005, according to figures released by the State Securities Regulatory Commission.

The shares involve 1,381 firms listed on Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, according to the commission.

Only 1.01 trillion yuan worth of shares were eligible for trading on the exchanges, about one third of the total, by late November of last year.

China's listed firms raised 689.1 billion yuan from the stock markets during 2001 and 2005, including 290.8 yuan from overseas stock markets, according to the commission.

The number of investors totaled 73.28 million by last November, compared with 61.23 million by the end of 2000, or up 20 percent.

The past five years also saw rapid expansion of institutional investors with the number of securities investment funds increasing to 213 from 36. Their total capital grew from 84.7 billion yuan to 463.17 billion yuan, up 446.8 percent.

By the end of last November, the National Social Securities Fund held 20.5 billion yuan worth of shares while the country's insurance companies invested 106 billion yuan in the stock markets indirectly, or through fund management institutions, and 13.57 billion yuan in the markets directly, according to the commission.

(Xinhua News Agency January 30, 2006)