Market value of major institutional investors on the domestic stock market dived 308.8 billion yuan (44.1 billion U.S. dollars) amid changing market development, figures from China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Ltd. show.

Institutional investors including fund companies, qualified foreign institutional investors (QFII) and insurance companies, saw their market value of domestic listing shares decline 9 percent from last year's 3,460.23 billion yuan.

Analysts attribute the market value decrease to the previous monthy's turbulence on China's stock market.

The Hushen 300 Index, which accounts for 60 percent of the market value in China's stock market and reflects the performance of China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, dropped 13.45 percent in January.

QFII's close-end fund holdings valued 6.32 billion yuan by the end of January -- Shanghai Stock Exchange contributed 2.29 billion yuan, while Shenzhen Stock Exchange contributed more than 4 billion yuan -- 2.22 billion yuan less compared with last year's 8.54 billion yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency February 29, 2008)