Chinese regulators are aiming to open the country's markets to
stock index futures in the first half of this year.
Fan Fuchun, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory
Commission (CSRC), made the announcement in a meeting of the annual
top legislative body and a broad-based national advisory
organization sessions.
The CSRC had made a systematic research on the issues of fund
companies' involvement in stock index futures, he said, without
elaborating.
International financial giants have reportedly been lobbying
Chinese regulators to let them join the first batch of investors to
trade the nation's pioneering stock index futures.
The trade of stock index futures would be launched on the
Shanghai-based China Financial Futures Exchange, CSRC chairman
Shang Fulin said in October last year.
Market watchers believe the introduction of such derivatives
could provide institutions with a much-needed tool to hedge risks,
but may also spur speculation and widen volatility.
The China Financial Futures Exchange, the country's first
financial derivatives exchange, was inaugurated on Sep. 8,
2006.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2007)