Around 70 percent of individual investors pour one-third of their family savings into the stock market, according to a survey published on Friday by the Securities Association of China.

The survey questioned 2,880 individual and institutional investors in 17 major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, from June 11 to July 5.

The survey also shows that around 70 percent of individual investors put less than 500,000 yuan in the stock market, and 25 percent less than 100,000 yuan. Around 13.4 percent of individual investors put all of their family savings into the stock market.

About 11 percent of the capital invested in the stock market by new investors, who opened accounts from 2006 to 2007, was borrowed funds. That's 2.5 percent higher than those who entered the market before 2006.

Most individual and institutional investors surveyed were positive about how the stock market would perform in the near future. Around 60 percent said they expected the rally to continue until 2008, when the Olympic Games are held in Beijing.

Looking ahead to the rest of the year, 54 percent of individual investors said they didn't plan to increase their investment. And 17 percent said they would buy more shares. Most investors said they expect returns to be around 10 to 50 percent in the remainder of the year.

(China Daily August 4, 2007)