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China's stock index futures debuts
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It was a roller coaster debut for China's first index futures. This landmark move will launch the index trading aims to diversify the country's financial markets.
China's much-anticipated launch of stock index futures saw all four futures contracts rise, despite a broad fall in the Chinese stock market. They pared the gains at closing.
The nearest May 2010 contract was bid at 3,443 points at the opening. That's up 1.3 percent from the base value of 3,399 points set for all the contracts. But it fell back in mid-afternoon trade to close at 3,415 points, up 0.49 percent.
The four contracts saw almost 50-thousand lots traded Friday. Analysts say compared with the number of trading accounts, the transaction volume was not satisfying. But they believe both the accounts and transactions will mount over time. Analysts are also reminding investors to stay cautious.
Yao Guang, general manager of Galaxy Futures Company Ltd., said, "The stock index is a brand new trading tool for China's stock market. It will eventually exert its impacts on the market. But this will take time. So I hope both institutional and individual investors will be prudent on their investment in the initial period of index trading. They should bear all the rules and risks in mind and avoid speculations in the market."
Futures are currently not available to foreign investors, many are hopeful Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors will be allowed sometime soon.
Analysts say the index futures are unlikely to exert decisive influences on the stock market. They also say futures are expected to help the CSI300 index overtake the SSE Composite Index as the most closely watched indicator of the market.
