As Chinese stocks soar to records and new buyers pile into the market, a survey has confirmed a troubling reality: Few investors really understand how stock markets work.
ChinaHR.com, a Web-based job placement firm, said that of the 2,500 responses this month to one of its surveys, more than 90 percent said friends or relatives had invested in the market and 46 percent said they had opened their own trading accounts.
But just 10 percent said they had a firm grasp of the market, while 56 percent said they were learning as they went, the poll showed.
It did not account for the remaining 34 percent.
The survey was published on Monday on ChinaHR.com's Web site.
ChinaHR.com called the finding "worrisome."
No margin of error was given and it wasn't clear whether the company had verified each response as unique.
Polls measuring investment knowledge are rare in China, and while the results may not be scientific by Western standards, they provide a glimpse into the stock market fervor that has lifted the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index more than 50 percent this year after surging 130 percent last year.
A growing number of individual investors, faced with few investment options and low bank interest rates, have been shifting their nest eggs out of bank accounts and into the stock market. There were some 8.56 million new equity accounts opened in the first quarter of this year in China, compared with 5.38 million for all of last year, according to Brown Brothers Harriman, a New York-based investment firm.
"Stock market investment is like career development -- it's a long-distance race," ChinaHR.com researcher Zhou Yuan said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source