China has 135 million securities investors

BEIJING - There are more than 135 million investors in China's securities market, according to the latest official data.

Other than 364,700 institutional investors, the investors are individuals, the China Securities Depository and Clearing Corporation (CSDC) said.

Among the individual investors, about 134 million have accounts in the A-share market and about 2.4 million in the B-share market.

China's two stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen both have A- and B-shares. A-shares refer to those denominated in renminbi while B-shares are in foreign currency (US dollars in Shanghai and Hong Kong dollars in Shenzhen).

Among the 364,700 institutional investors, 342,000 have A-share accounts while the rest have B-share accounts.

Chinese stocks closed higher Wednesday, the last trading day of the Year of Rooster, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.45 percent at 3,199.16 points, and the Shenzhen Component Index up 0.67 percent at 10,431.91 points.