China's Stock Markets: Shenzhen

Filed in archive Stocks on June 20, 2007

China has three stock markets - the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Shanghai Stock Exchange, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is located in Shenzhen's Financial District - a fairly new part of the city not far from the city's government offices.

Unlike the market in neighboring Hong Kong with its horde of foreign investors, the SZSE is dominated by local investors - many of them individual investors from China's middle and working class. This is one reason (among many) that the SZSE is more volatile and more speculative than the exchange in Hong Kong.

Shenzhen's stock market has been compared to the American NASDAQ (with Shanghai being the NYSE). Large companies (50 million shares or more) getlisted in Shanghai; the SZSE sees smaller companies being listed there.

While most of the stocks in Shenzhen are denominated in the Chinese currency, Yuan Renminbi, Chinese B-shares in Shenzhen are traded in Hong Kong dollars.

The market trades for four hours a day, five days a week, from 9:30 - 11:30 am and from 1:00 - 3:00 pm local time in Shenzhen.