Chinese stock markets remain attractive to new investors despite recent drastic falls of share prices, official figures have indicated.

 

A total of 14,822 new investment accounts were opened on Monday for trading yuan-denominated A shares on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, according to the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp.

 

The figure, only 30 percent of the May 16 record of 48,656 in the last five years, is still about twice as much as that of the daily average last year. The number of valid accounts totaled 73.03 million by the end of May.

 

The Chinese markets experienced bullish performance for the first five months of this year as its major index grew by 42 percent.

 

The Composite Stock Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which comprises yuan-denominated A shares and foreign-currency B shares, closed at 1,684.25 points on Tuesday, up 42.8 percent from 1,179.53 points recorded on January 4, the first trading day of this year.

 

The major index dropped by about 5 percent on June 7 and July 13 with prices of nearly 300 out of the 1,400 shares down by the daily maximum level of 10 percent due to concerns about possible interest rate hikes and issuance of massive IPOs, which prompted some investors to dump shares to secure their profits. But many dealers and investors are optimistic about the market prospects and insist the recent readjustments are normal.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 19, 2006)