Two days after local investors were allowed into a market previously open to foreigners only, B shares jumped 9.90 percent in Shanghai , to end at 100.47, and leapt 9.74 percent in Shenzhen , closing at 153.74. Trading volume remains thin on both bourses, as shareholders hold onto their stocks in anticipation of further price rises. The gains over the last two days have put the market back in positive territory for the year. Shanghai's B shares are now up 12.6 percent since Jan. 1, while Shenzhen's B shares have climbed 10.6 percent.
Analysts predict further share-price gains tomorrow.
What is preventing investors from completely inundating the market is a restriction imposed by securities regulators prohibiting the use of foreign currency deposited after Feb. 19. Still, brokerages have been swamped with applications to open B share trading accounts. Earlier this year, before securities regulators opened the market to local investors, B shares performed poorly. After posting stupendous gains in 2000, Shanghai's B shares slid 7 percent and Shenzhen's B shares slumped 9 percent from Jan. 1 to Feb 16. The CSRC currently has a cap on the B-share markets, preventing most listed firms from seeing more than a 10 percent daily rise in share prices.