Middle and low-income investors took up 70 percent of China's
investor population and nearly ten percent of new investors never
thought of a loss on the stock market, according to a survey report
released by the Securities Association.
The Report said 32.7 million new stock accounts had been open
last year, ten times of that of the previous year. The country's
investor population had surged to 136 million by the end of
2007.
Individual investors took up 48 percent and 98 percent of all
investors on the stock market and fund market, respectively.
The Beijing-based Securities Association conducted two surveys -
survey on China's stock market investors and survey on fund
investors - at the end of 2007, aimed to make clearer the structure
and condition of fast-growing individual investors.
"China's capital market has a high proportion of middle and
low-income investors, who have little awareness of their rights as
a shareholder. Most of them are just interested in short-term
speculation," Huang Xiangping, president of the Securities
Association, said on Monday.
Statistics show middle and low-income investors, with monthly
income less than five thousand yuan (688.7 U.S. dollars), accounted
for nearly 70 percent of the investors population.
In the survey, 9.4% percent of the new investors who entered the
market in 2007 said they never thought of a loss.
Experts noted that was because the later comers had not
experienced a bear market.
China's stock market experienced a round of bull market in 2007.
The key benchmark Shanghai Composite Index soared from 2,728 points
on January to 5,261 points, or 92.85 percent, on December 28,
luring a large number of ordinary Chinese citizens to flock to put
their deposits into the stock market without thinking of a possible
loss.
Generally, a bullish market cycle will last some 20 months, but
China's bullish market had remained 29 months from June. 6, 2005 to
November, 2007.
Analysts expect the Chinese stock market will continue its bull
run in 2008, but the chances for speculative profit would be more
slender. And with the government's tightening policies in the
pipeline, investors have been warned to be more selective.
"Whether a country could develop a sound stock market depends on
the system of investor protection. It is urgent for China to equip
shareholders with basis knowledge about securities," said
Huang.
China's securities regulator is planning to boost investors risk
education by establishing a department to be fully responsible for
the matter, he added.
(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2008)
