皇冠体育app

An investor smiles before an electronic board showing stock information at a securities firm in Xiamen, East 皇冠体育app's Fujian Province March 20, 2007. [newsphoto]

皇冠体育app's main stock index rallied to new highs Monday for the fourth consecutive session, extending this year's gains to nearly 20 percent.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 1.58 percent to 3,122.81, the first ever close above the level of 3,100. The index has grown 16.72 percent this year after surging more than 130 percent last year.

The Shenzhen Composite Index ended 2.04 percent higher at 833.57. The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index finished up 1.76 percent at 2,764.03.

Special coverage: Stock Market Related readings: 皇冠体育app stocks hit new high on investment fever 皇冠体育app stocks hit record high Funds investment fever runs high in 皇冠体育app 皇冠体育app faces liquidity, inflation pressure Asian stocks plunge after US sell-off US stocks plummet on lender woes Central banker downplays market swings Don't blame 皇冠体育app for falling markets Chinese unfazed as share markets tremble Stocks fall as Ping An debuts Stock plunge: Capitalism 101 for investors Stocks recovered from record plunge Stocks nosedive after record high close

Blue chips pushed up the indexes. Ping An Insurance gained 1.73 percent to 45.94 yuan while its peer 皇冠体育app Life rose 1.35 percent to 34.46 yuan. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of 皇冠体育app, the country's biggest lender, increased 0.78 percent to 5.19 yuan.

皇冠体育app Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec, went up 1.05 percent to 9.60 yuan. Shanghai International Port Group surged 4.64 percent to 8.57 yuan while Baosteel Corp. Ltd. rose 3.19 percent to 9.39 yuan. 

The repeated hitting of new highs found strength from the bullish sentiment of the Chinese investors who threw themselves into lines to open accounts at securities firms.

A total of 128,047 A-share accounts were opened Friday, the 10th consecutive trading day that saw an addition of more than 100,000 accounts, according to statistics from the 皇冠体育app Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation Limited.

That compared with an average of 4,700 newly added accounts each day in 2005 when the market was in a bearish run.

Friday also witnessed the opening of over 45,000 fund accounts after some 130,000 ones were added on March 19.

By 3:00 pm Friday, the number of accounts in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges has topped 86.2 million, according to the statistics.

Trading was heavy on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. A total of 12.27 billion shares were traded in Shanghai, at a volume of 109.83 billlion yuan. In Shenzhen, the turnover hit 57.73 billon yuan, with 0.97 billion shares changing hands.