CHINESE STOCK MARKET REBOUNDS AFTER SHARP INVESTOR MOOD SWING

 
By Geoff Dyer in Shanghai
Friday, June 01, 2007
 
Chinese shares rebounded in a volatile trading session yesterday as retail investors recovered some of their confidence a day after the latest official move to damp down the market.

After tumbling 6.5 per cent on Wednesday, shares initially fell as much as a further 4 per cent, in continued fallout from government moves to cool the market with a tripling of stamp duty on trading.

But shares recovered as investor mood swung sharply, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite closing 1.4 per cent up on the day at 4109.6. It had even been up as high as 3 per cent in late trade.

Analysts said that although it was too early to fully assess the reaction of investors to the tax rise, the fact that the market had rebounded so soon after the announcement was not good news for the authorities, which had been hoping for a gradual decline in share prices.

“The tax increase on Wednesday shows that the government is very concerned about the level of the stock market,” said Jason Chang, economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Shanghai. “But if the rally continues over the next few days, the government will be concerned and might introduce further measures.”

The boom in the mainland market – which has quadrupled since mid-2005 – has been partly underpinned by a surge in retail investment that has led to more than 1m new share trading accounts being opened each week.

In an indication that many new investors have not been put off by the government measures, a total of 426,000 new trading accounts were opened on Wednesday – one of the highest ever daily figures – suggesting that some people saw the slump in share prices as a buying opportunity.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has criticised China for under-pricing initial public offerings, which it says has resulted in the government losing out on several billion dollars of potential revenue.

中国股市周四反弹

 
英国《金融时报》杰夫•代尔(Geoff Dyer)上海报道
2007年6月1日 星期五
 
在中国政府昨日出台最新的股市调控举措后，中国股市昨日出现反弹，整个交易日震荡较大，散户投资者的信心有所恢复。

继周三暴跌6.5%之后，中国股市昨日最初跌幅一度高达4%，继续受到政府最新调控举措的拖累。中国政府将股票交易印花税税率提高了两倍。

但是，随着投资者人气明显恢复，股市重拾升势。上证综合指数昨日收于4109.6点，涨幅达1.4%。该指数在尾盘交易中一度上涨3%。

分析师表示，尽管现在全面评估投资者对于上调印花税的反应还为时过早，但对于监管当局而言，市场在政策出台后这么快就出现反弹，并不是一个好消息。中国政府原本希望股市能够逐步下跌。

“周三上调印花税表明，中国政府对于股市目前的点位颇感担忧，”渣打银行(Standard Chartered Bank)驻上海经济学家常钟(Jason Chang)表示，“但如果未来几个交易日继续反弹，政府将会感到担心，可能会出台一些新的举措。”

散户投资剧增一定程度上为中国内地股市的繁荣提供了支撑——自2005年年中以来，内地股市已增长3倍。每周新开设的股票交易帐户数量超过100万。

有迹象显示，许多新投资者未受政府此项举措的影响。周三新开户数量总计42.6万，是迄今最高的日开户数据之一。这表明一些投资者将股市暴跌视为一个买进的机会。

与此同时，世界银行(World Bank)批评中国首次公开发行(IPO)定价过低。世行表示，这使得政府损失了数十亿美元的潜在收入。