Chinese stocks bullish in 2014: think-tank

BEIJING -- Chinese stock markets will turn bullish in 2014, the State Information Center, a top government think-tank, has forecast.

Shares have fallen to very low prices and it is highly possible they will pick up next year, said SIC analyst Xu Pingsheng, who is author of a SIC report on Chinese stock markets in 2013 and 2014.

The Chinese economy will run at around the current speed with growth advantages in central and western regions because of industrialization and urbanization, the report said.

It forecasts that earnings of companies listed on A share markets will climb 11 percent this year and 14 percent in 2014, Xu told Friday's Economic Information Daily.

A shares refer to shares that are traded in yuan on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

China is expected to push forward with economic and political reforms, as well as economic restructuring, and the moves will gradually benefit the markets, Xu said.

But liquidity pressure will persist in 2014, Xu said.

Companies' initial public offering has been put on hold in the country's stock markets for more than a year, with around 700 firms left in the IPO pipeline.

The Chinese economy grew 7.8 percent in 2012, the lowest in 13 years. The target set by the government this year is 7.5 percent, a sign that authorities are willing to tolerate slower growth to achieve quality expansion driven less by exports and investment and more by consumption.