China's brokers suffered a 45 percent drop in revenues in the first half of 2005, as domestic market dipped at eight-year low.

During the previous 6 months, China's 130-odd stock brokerages posted income of US$1.2 billion; they’re thinnest in years, a huge slide from last year. Commissions from yuan-denominated A-share trading almost halved to US$1 billion from over 1.8 billion last year.

The revenue decline came after a 15-percent slump over the same period in the broader stock index, as concerns linger over Beijing's efforts to convert over US$200 billion worth of non-tradable state shares into tradable stocks might bring a share flood, diluting the value of existing stocks.

(CCTV.com July 18, 2005)