Investors monitor the movement of stock prices at a brokerage firm in Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province May 9, 2007. [newsphoto]

The Huixin Dongjie office of Xiangcai Securities in Beijing was packed Wednesday. Investors of various ages stared at the exchange board as the numbers flickered constantly.

While the place was busy, with people making transactions, there weren't many long lines. It was a different picture of the red-hot stock market the media had reported earlier.

A woman surnamed Wang sold all her stocks days ago and is now waiting for a correction in China's runaway stock market.

"The market has reached its peak and is certain to fall," said the new investor in her thirties. She had beginner's luck, making a 10,000-yuan profit out of 30,000 yuan in two months. "I will start buying stocks again after a major fall."

Another investor, Old Jiang, 60, opened a share-trading account in April and he put 20,000 yuan, a small part of his savings, into the market.

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"It's just for fun and it helps me kill the time," said the retiree who said he did not care much about the gains.

"If my money increases, it's good, as I will have more money to buy meat," the former engineer told chinadaily.com.cn. "But if I lose the money it's also ok, as it will not affect my everyday life greatly."

What Wang and Yang are doing presents a different picture from that painted by some domestic media. Reports often recounted irrational Chinese investors eagerly jumping into the stock market, expecting quick money and unaware of the risks.

There are also frequent stories about a senior betting all of his or her hard-earned savings on the stocks, or about a man putting all his possessions up as collateral to get a loan for stocks.

But in fact, Wang is among millions of investors who are not so optimistic about the future development in the market.

Statistics from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange showed, by the end of March, more than 3.4 million investors in the bourse have sold all the stocks in their portfolios, or made no transactions after opening new accounts, according to earlier reports.

Grandpa Yu, 66, was one of them. "The market will definitely fall," he said confidently. "When the flood of new money slows down or stops, the market will lack support. It is the rule of stock market."

Most of the investors around him chose to hold cash when the Shanghai Composite Index surpassed 3,500 points in early April. The index broke through 4,100 Tuesday, extending this year's gains to more than 53 percent on top of a 130 rally in 2006.

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