China's National Social Security Fund (SSF) plans to hike its holdings of Chinese stocks this year, the Beijing Business Today reported Friday, citing fund chairman Dai Xianglong. The SSF hopes to profit from the recent sharp decline in the country's equities prices.

According to Dai, SSF will increase Chinese equities holdings to 30 percent by the end of this year. He also said that the fund will invest in Taiwan's stock market.

In the second quarter, the SSF opened 24 new stock trading accounts and added 75.42 million shares. This indicates the fund has a positive outlook regarding the future development of China's stock market.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2560.25 points on Thursday, dropping about 22 percent since the last trading day of 2009 ended at 3277.

Dai predicted the fund will achieve a 6 percent investment return ratio in 2010, down from last year's 8.39 percent.

At the end of 2009, the fund reached 776.5 billion yuan, up 38 percent from 2008. Its annual rate of return averaged 9.75 percent.

China's business press carried the story above on Friday. China.org.cn has not checked the stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.