Stocks move closer to 4,000-point mark
By Li Zengxin (chinadaily.com.cn)Updated: 2007-06-11 15:44
China's split-share reform is close to the end. Shenzhen Development Bank, one of the few unreformed companies, said Saturday that a shareholders' meeting had almost unanimously approved a revised, more generous plan to compensate public shareholders for the reform.
The bank offered a 1-for-10 bonus issue of shares as well as 1.5 warrants for every 10 shares held. Each warrant will let shareholders buy Shenzhen Development Bank stocks at 19.00 yuan per share, a 34 percent discount from the last traded market price of 28.69 yuan.
In the next wave of listings, securities brokerages will be on the spotlight. The China Securities Regulatory Commission has approved Haitong Securities as the first brokerage to make a back-door listing. Haitong will take over Shanghai Urban Agro-Business, change its name and have a total 3.4 billion shares after the transaction.
Guangfa Securities, however, failed to complete a similar process smoothly. It was suspected of insider trading through the process of back-door listing via Yanbian Highway Construction. Another 10 people from Guangfa Securities were questioned by the policy last week. The State Council has known the incidence and the Guangdong policy has set up a special investigation team for the case, said sources.
Total market value of all securities listed on the two exchanges was 16.98 trillion yuan by the closing of last Friday, slightly lower than that of a week before, or 17.21 trillion yuan on June 1. But the value was still 11 percent down from that of May 29 when a stamp tax hike was announced overnight.
Analysts believe a bulk number of individual investors have bought stocks over the 4,000-point index mark. Such investors saw their stock prices plunge deep after the tax policy change last week.
When stocks come back to the higher price levels as the benchmark index crosses the critical 4,000-point mark again, the investors may sell their stocks to recover from the loss. The stock market may see more fluctuations when the two forces, buying and selling bids have an intensive battle near the critical frontier. The stocks will not return to the historical heights so easily and so soon, said analysts.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange and China Securities Index Co Ltd together announced they would amend the composition of two stock indices: Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) 180 and SSE 50, to better trace the stock movements. China Securities Index will amend the composition of its three indices: Shanghai-Shenzhen 300, China Securities Index (CSI) 100 and CSI 500. The adjusted version of the indices will take effect on July 2.
The Shanghai-Shenzhen 300 Index, which will be tracked by the stock index futures to be launched this year, will eliminate 28 old component stocks and enclose 28 new ones. The new components, including China Southern Airlines and Shanghai Zhangjiang High-Tech Park Development, will replace 28 ones including Shenzhen Chiwan Wharf Holdings and Shanghai Maling Aquarius.
SSE 180 will change 18 component stocks; SSE 50 will replace five stocks; CSI 100 will change 10; and CSI 500 will change 50. Adjustments will also be made on CSI 200, CSI 700 and CSI 800 accordingly.
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