The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) now ranks sixth in the world and the third in Asia in terms of market capitalization.

After large-cap China Shenhua Energy returned to the mainland on October 9, market capitalization on the Shanghai bourse soared to a record high of $2.7 trillion.

There are 856 companies listed on the Shanghai exchange and 822 of those have completed share reforms, accounting for above 99.5 percent of the total market capitalization.

At the 2007 General Assembly and Annual Meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges held in Shanghai, Tang Dengjie, vice mayor, said Shanghai will further strengthen ties with overseas financial centers and stock markets.

Geng Liang, chairman of the SSE, said the Shanghai exchange is entering an important period of development. "We will strive to build the stock exchange into a more standardized and open world-class bourse. We aim to cultivate the blue-chip market," said Geng.

Total turnover on the exchange in the first eight months amounted to $2.93 trillion. Average daily turnover was 17 times that of the same period in 2005.

The number of blue-chips listed on the exchange has doubled in two years. There are 111 companies that exceed 10 billion yuan in market capitalization of tradable shares, accounting for 60 percent of the total.

(China Daily October 17, 2007)