China’s stock market sees drop in new A-share, margin-trading accounts amid tech sell-off
The number of new accounts opened on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was down 7 per cent month on month
The Shanghai Stock Exchange opened 2.66 million new A-share accounts in July, down 7 per cent from June, according to exchange data. That brought the cumulative tally for the January-to-July period to 22.82 million new accounts.
Margin trading activity painted a similar picture. China Securities Data, a unit of the central securities depository for mainland China’s stock exchanges, said 139,400 new margin-trading accounts were opened market-wide in July, down 22.12 per cent from June.
The pullback coincided with a rout in mainland technology shares in July. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks the 300 largest and most liquid stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, dropped about 13 per cent in July, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell about 5 per cent. Electronic chemicals, semiconductors and optical-module makers bore the brunt of the decline.