More than 60 percent of the funds on the Chinese market reported losses for the fourth quarter of 2007, totaling 72.1 billion yuan (about 9.9 billion US dollars), reflecting bearish conditions that developed in October.

 

Figures from TX Investment Consulting indicate that 215 funds managed by 58 companies disclosed losses in their fourth-quarter reports. These losses were the first for Chinese funds as a whole since the end of June 2005, when the stock market began a bull run.

 

The funds had invested heavily in the stock market, which witnessed a 130-percent jump in 2006 and nearly doubled in 2007 before pulling back at the end of the year. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished 2007 at 5,261.56 points, down from a peak of 6,092.06 points on October 16.

 

The funds pared back their equity holdings during the fourth quarter by about 1.5 percent as investors became cautious, TX said.

 

In the fourth quarter, only 126 out of a total 341 funds, more than half of which are currency- and bond-oriented funds, recorded profits, according to TX.

 

A Beijing-based fund disclosed the biggest loss of 3.2 billion yuan in its quarterly report, and 20 funds reported losses exceeding 1 billion yuan, the statistics show.

 

Ironically, the most profitable funds were also stock funds, with one reaping more than 1.5 billion yuan in the fourth quarter.

 

Only nine out of the 58 fund management companies reported a profit. The largest loss was 6.1 billion yuan.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2008)