Investor enthusiasm has worn off in the stock market with only 9.26 million stock accounts opened in the first half of the year, a drop of almost 50 percent from a year earlier, figures released yesterday show.

The number of new fund accounts increased at a slower pace than stock accounts with 1.8 million accounts opened in the first half, compared with 9.09 million accounts a year earlier.

In June, investors opened 969,600 stock accounts, the lowest since March 2007, according to China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp. Investors also opened 108,600 fund accounts.

By the end of last month, the two stock exchanges on the Chinese mainland had a total of 119 million stock accounts, with 99 million valid, and 27.77 million fund accounts.

China's CSI 300 Index tumbled about 50 percent since the beginning of this year, equivalent to a 12-trillion-yuan loss in market value.

Many investors have fled the market and shifted their cash to banks because of the sluggish stock and property markets during the period.

The trend has been reflected in the central bank's latest household survey. It found 38 percent of respondents said they planned to save more in bank deposits, up from 35 percent three months earlier and 25 percent from last year's third quarter.

Total deposits at all financial institutions grew 17.84 percent to 45.02 trillion yuan (US$6.62 trillion), up 17.84 percent on a year ago. Yuan deposits rose 4.96 trillion yuan in the first half, up 1.58 trillion yuan from a year earlier.

(Shanghai Daily July 25, 2008)