China's listed securities traders report surging Q1 profits

BEIJING - China's listed securities traders reported surging profit growth in the first quarter of this year thanks to a bullish run of the Chinese A-share market during this period.

The net profits attributable to the shareholders of the parent companies of the 35 listed security traders totaled about 37.789 billion yuan ($5.61 billion) in Q1, up 86.59 percent year on year.

CITIC Securities was the best performer in Q1, with its net profit topping four billion yuan, followed by Haitong Securities and Guotai Junan Securities.

Fourteen of the 35 stock brokers registered a net profit growth pace of over 100 percent, with that of Pacific Securities soaring over 6,600 percent.

The surging profit gains were in line with robust stock market activities. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index climbed nearly 24 percent in the first three months of 2019.