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Investors rush in to grab a bull by the horns

By Jia Hepeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-05 09:45

Small investors like Zhu Shuzhen, 64, don't care too much about macro policies. To the Beijing resident, the bullish market means one thing: Her son-in-law is smiling at her.

"During the bearish period, I lost most of the 500,000 yuan (US$64,100) he lent to me to invest in stocks. I've recovered most losses," Zhu said.

However, neither Zhu nor Wang has pulled a profit since the last bullish period in 2001. Many of their stocks are old, and their growth has been limited compared to many newly issued stocks. "Although I know the new stocks are more profitable, I can't sell my old stocks for such a low price," Wang said.

One of the stocks he first purchased for 15 yuan has stayed at 4 yuan since the middle of last year.

Fund managers

A noticeable trend has emerged during the current bull run: Increasingly, private funds controlled by managers with a keen sense of the market are emerging.

A Beijing-based private fund manager who declined to give his name said members of securities and fund management circles rarely gathered for dinner. "It wasn't because we fund professionals were too poor to afford a meal, but rather, because in the long bearish market, people had no interest in casual talk," said the manager, who recently left a major State-owned securities firm to work for a private company.

But since the market began to boom, fund managers have been gathering more often despite their busy schedules. But stock information isn't the only thing they exchange over dinner and drinks.

"We mostly share our personal business plans, because the overall market is so booming," he said.

Many of his colleagues have transferred from securities companies or publicly sold fund firms either State-owned or Sino-foreign joint ventures to privately fund firms, where the commissions are much higher. The fund manager charges clients with a 20 percent commission.

Veteran fund manager Shi Jinyong prefers to stay at the State-owned Datong Securities Co Ltd in Taiyuan, of North China's Shanxi Province. He said the emerging private funds still don't have a legal status, but they have been widely spreading throughout the securities market.

Private funds attract investors among friends or business partners. Usually, clients' money is stored in their own securities accounts, which are protected by two passwords: a securities password and a deposit password. The clients give the securities passwords to private fund managers to operate stocks, but these managers can't withdraw money without the deposit password.

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