The number of new Chinese stock accounts increased by 3.27% from the previous week and set a new 36 months record.
The jump in new account registrations was primarily driven by four forces. First, the new Shanghai – Hong Kong Stock Connect re-invigorated investors’ interest in the domestic stock market. Second, a considerable growth was seen on the Mainland markets in 2014, for instance Shanghai Composite rose 16% since January and was hovering around 2500 last week. Third, a new delisting framework was implemented on November 16, which is considered by many to be the toughest China have ever seen. The promise of market cleaning up boosted investors’ trust in the listed companies. The fourth reason is a large uptake of the simplified account opening procedures, which now can be performed online and over mobile phones for many of the Chinese brokerages.
The CSDC’s data also shows the number of A-share trading participants on Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses totaled 16 million on the last week, with the total number of Chinese stock accounts holding A-shares at 54.49 million.