Chinese Firms Raise Record Capital From Securities Market

Chinese firms raised a record 324.9 billion yuan from the domestic and overseas securities market in 2000, top regulator Zhou Xiaochuan said.

By the end of 2000, 1,211 Chinese firms were listed on domestic or overseas stock exchanges, the chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said at a national working conference on securities and futures ending in Beijing Sunday.

Compared with the volatile overseas markets, China's securities market has been relatively stable amid fast expansion of the market size, he said.

Throughout the year, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges recorded a trading volume of 6.08 trillion yuan, up 94 percent from the previous year.

By the end of 2000, the capitalization of the market stood at 4.8 trillion yuan, accounting for 57 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Securities investment funds made progress in 2000. The country now has 10 fund management companies, with four others being formed.

By the end of last year, the nation's 33 securities investment funds boasted total net assets worth of 84.6 billion yuan, up 35 percent from the previous year.

The regulators stepped up its supervision and law enforcement in 2000, partly due to the establishment of inspection bureaus in the CSRC's nine regional offices.

Since July 1999 when the Securities Law came into effect, the CSRC probed 236 cases and delivered sanctions to 88 institutions and 142 persons involved in 100 cases, collected 466 million yuan in fines and confiscated illegal income.

An advancement in 2000 was the abolishment of the much criticized quota system in initial public offerings (IPOs). Instead, IPOs are now recommended by sponsors and reviewed by an expert committee before final approval by the CSRC.

Despite the obvious achievements, as an emerging market with a short history of 10 years, China's securities market still has many problems, Zhou said.

The quality of China's listed firms, intermediary institutions and fund management firms is yet to be improved; problems exist in the secondary market; and tougher punishment has to be delivered on various acts, he said.

All these problems have to be solved in the process of further regularizing the market, he added.






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