China's A-share market has shown robust performance recently, with margin financing balances surpassing the two trillion yuan (about 278.54 billion U.S. dollars) mark to hit a decade high.
Margin financing in the A-share market refers to investors using cash or stocks as collateral to borrow money from securities firms to purchase stocks.
To be more specific, if investors believe a stock will rise, they can initially purchase some shares with their own funds and then increase their position through margin financing. If the stock price rises, upon selling, they repay the borrowed amount along with interest and keep the additional profit. This profit represents the extra income generated through leverage, illustrating the leverage effect of margin trading.
The margin financing balance refers to the remaining amount of borrowed funds in the market that have not yet been repaid. Therefore, a higher balance indicates a larger amount of borrowed funds that are still outstanding.
As of Friday, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges reported margin financing balances of around 1.0339 trillion yuan (about 143.99 billion U.S. dollars) and 1.0004 trillion yuan (about 139.33 billion U.S. dollars), respectively, pushing the combined total above two trillion yuan -- a near-decade high.
"Since September 24 last year, thanks to the continued effects of policies aimed at ensuring stable growth, there has been a sustained improvement in market risk appetite and investors' sentiment. Consequently, the relative attractiveness of the stock market has increased to some extent," said Li Qiusuo, chief domestic strategy analyst at the research department of China International Capital Corporation (CICC).
Experts believe that with the increasing trading activity and the accelerated pace of capital inflows into the market, financing conditions have become more accommodative, thereby providing robust support for the stock market's rise.
China's A-share market rises with margin financing balances at decade high
Highlighting the "Future Energy" as a key direction for China's strategic emerging industries, the country's nuclear energy development, guided by its three-step strategy, has seen major strides in the past year, said a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
In a recent press briefing, Xin Feng, also deputy general manager of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), updated the media on the progresses China has achieved under the strategy.
"China's three-step strategy for nuclear energy development -- from the thermal reactor to the fast reactor and the fusion reactor -- was formulated in 1983 as a medium- and long-term plan. For the thermal reactor, over the past year, our 2.0 version of the Hualong One technology has been approved. This is a unified and fully self-owned intellectual property based third-generation nuclear power technology solution. And the Linglong One small modular reactor also successfully completed its cold-state functional test last year and is expected to be put into commercial operation this year," he said.
For the second and third steps, Chinese researchers and engineers have achieved milestones in the past year with the government support, Xin noted.
"Then for the fast reactor, last year, a closed-cycle system for an integral fast reactor successfully achieved preliminary standard design. We will continue to solve its engineering technology challenges. As for the fusion reactor, in 2025, with national support, we established the China Fusion Energy Company in Shanghai. And our Huanliu-3, a platform for conducting research and development of fusion technology, made a big stride, with an iron temperature in it achieving 117 million Celsius and an electron temperature reaching 160 million Celsius. We will continue to adhere to the development strategy and focus on technological research and engineering technology development," Xin said.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC kicked off in Beijing on March 5 and March 4, respectively.
The "two sessions" -- which refer to the annual meetings of China's supreme organ of state power, the National People's Congress (NPC), and its top political advisory body, the National Committee of the CPPCC -- are a key event on the country's political calendar and offer a window into the country's development direction.
China's nuclear energy development makes great strides with three-step strategy: CPPCC member
