Chinese shares opened slightly higher on Monday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 6.26 points to 3,920.65 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index rose 4.19 points to 12,820.61 points in the morning session. China is expected to release the major economic figures for the first half year this week.

Chinese share prices seesawed last week with the Shanghai Composite Index closing at 3914.4 points on Friday, up 3.5 percent over the previous weekend. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 3.39 percent last week to 12,816.42 points.

Amid worries of possible government moves to rein in excessive liquidity, the turnover on China's two stock markets continued to drop last week. The combined turnover of Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses shrank to 84.4 billion yuan (US$ 11 billion) last Friday, one of the lowest daily volumes since May.

The market value of Chinese stock market rose 4.49 percent last week to more than 17 trillion yuan (about US$ 2.24 trillion).

(Xinhua News Agency July 16 2007)