The first exchange traded fund (ETF) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, one of the only two stock exchanges on the Chinese mainland, will start trading next Monday, announced the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

 

The ETF, which invited investment at the same stock exchange two months ago, is only the second of its kind ever issued on the Chinese mainland. The Shanghai Stock Exchange offered the Chinese mainland's first ETF a year ago.

 

Starting from next Monday, investors may trade 100ETF or apply for redemption at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, and the market capitalization is placed over 5.15 billion yuan (about US$635 million), sources from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange said.

 

But the surging and falling range for market transactions is limited to 10 percent.

 

The 100ETF, under the custody of the Yifangda Fund Management Co. Ltd, will closely follow the Index 100 of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, including the performance of China's blue-chip stocks, and stocks of some medium-sized and smaller businesses with good market performance.

 

Organizations, including the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, have hosted a range of seminars in Chinese mainland cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou to improve publicity on 100 ETF, said the sources.

 

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange will keep a daily reporting system from the onset to show the net value of the fund from the previous day's trading and the present value (10PV) of the fund at a given day.

 

An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a type of investment company whose investment objective is to achieve the same return as a particular market index. An ETF is similar to an index fund in that it will primarily invest in the securities of companies that are included in a selected market index. An ETF will invest in either all of the securities or a representative sample of the securities included in the index.

 

ETFs are legally classified as open-ended companies or Unit Investment Trusts (UITs), but they differ from traditional open-end companies and UITs.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 20, 2006)