BEIJING -- More Chinese would like to invest in the stock market and funds, a survey by the People's Bank of China, the central bank, has shown.

A record 30 percent of respondents said investment in stocks and funds are more profitable than depositing money in banks, 11.7 percentage points higher than that for the last quarter of 2006, according to the central bank's survey of 20,000 people in 50 cities.

The survey, published on Wednesday, shows 60 percent of respondents favored bank deposits. While the figure is high, it is still the lowest on record.

Analysts said the stock and fund frenzy has been stimulated by the bull markets.

Fifty-three mutual funds in China reported operating profits of 50 billion yuan (US$6.46 billion) in 2006, thanks to the country's bull markets. The record operating profits were seven times greater than the seven billion yuan earned in 2005 by all 206 mutual funds under 46 fund management companies in China.

The country experienced a fund investment frenzy last year as investors transferred their low-interest bank deposits to the bourses, which surged 130 percent last year after a four-year slump.

A total of 15 million people have invested in funds and the fund-buying frenzy is expected to last for a long time, market analysts said.

China's two equity markets witnessed record turnover of 225 billion yuan (US$29 billion) on Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rising to 3,173.02 points, up 1.09 percent from the previous close.