People’s Daily recently reported that between June 12 and June 19, the Chinese domestic stock market (also known as the A-Share Market), which is composed of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, lost a total of RMB 9.24 trillion (around US$1.49 trillion). That amount equals the market value of PetroChina and ICBC combined. PetroChina is the world’s second largest oil and natural gas company and ICBC is world’s largest bank (in terms of market value). The Chinese A-Share Market has 175 million active accounts. The one-week loss was the equivalent of a loss per account of RMB 52,800 (around US$8,537). The two domestic stock exchanges temporarily unlisted 1,088 stocks due to the over-the-limit level of their price drops. The Chinese Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) started an investigation into potential illegal activities. Many stock market experts expressed the belief that the main cause of this stock market landslide was the Chinese government’s intent to delay the “easing” of the monetary policies.
Source: People’s Daily, June 20, 2015
http://finance.people.com.cn/n/2015/0620/c1004-27185308.html