China New Stock Trading Accounts Fall for Fourth Week

[Monitor]

China New Stock Trading Accounts Fall for Fourth Week

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) — Investors opened fewer accounts to trade China
stocks for a fourth consecutive week, the longest stretch of weekly
declines since September, as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index
traded little changed this month.

A total of 306,554 accounts were opened in the five days ended Dec.
25, according to data from the China Securities Depository and
Clearing Corp. That’s 9.4 percent fewer than the 338,292 new accounts
in the preceding week and a fourth straight weekly decline.

Account openings fell for six straight weeks starting August as the
Shanghai index slumped 22 percent that month, the biggest monthly loss
since October 2008. The Shanghai gauge, up 76 percent this year, has
gained 0.5 percent this month, set for the smallest gain since the
drop in August.

“The lackluster market performance this month has dampened enthusiasm
for new investors to move into equities,” said Zhang Gang, a
strategist at Central China Securities Holdings Co. in Shanghai.

Investors opened 700,617 accounts in the last week of July, the most
this year, as the Shanghai index surged.

Source: http://bigcapital.wordpress.com/