China may postpone the launch of the country's first stock index futures because not enough people are trained in the field, according to China Business News.

The stock index futures are based on the Shanghai Shenzhen 300 Index, a tracker of 300 of the top A shares in the Shanghai and Shenzhen market.

Media reports had said the China Financial Futures Exchange would open the stock index futures in the first half of this year. But the futures exchange said they would start training staff this month until the end of June. Companies which have completed the training and have been awarded certificates will be qualified to buy and sell stock index futures, meaning the launch of the futures will be sometime in the second half of this year.

The training, organized by the Securities Association of China, China Futures Association and China Financial Futures Exchange, will be held between May 26 to 26 in Shanghai, June 9 to 10 in Shenzhen and June 23 to 24 in Beijing.

Currently, the benchmark Composite Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange increased to more than 4,000 points in May, so regulators are cautious about launching the futures.

The China Financial Futures Exchange has also amended its draft trading rules for the stock index futures. Analysts said the amendments reflected concerns about a possible overheating of China's stock market, with the Shanghai benchmark index more than tripling in value since January 2006.

Analysts said the amendment means the acceleration of the launch of the futures, but a source with the exchange said the amendment was a routine work, which doesn¡¯t indicate the exchange will speed up launching the futures.

Industry sources also say the launch of index futures trading will probably be postponed, partly because the exchange was still working on its trading system.

Some media earlier reports said the regulators would try to launch the stock index futures in the first half of the year.

The Caijing Magazine also narrowed the timeline to May, which is in line with overall market expectations. "The most possible time is early or mid-May," a source close to the decision-makers was cited as saying by the magazine in March.

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