The market value of China's stock markets hit a record 9.12 trillion yuan (US$1169.16 billion) on January 8, only two weeks after hitting eight trillion yuan (US$1.03 trillion) in December.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange saw its yuan-denominated A-shares and hard-currency B shares worth 7.25 trillion yuan (929.1 billion US dollars) on Monday while the market value of Shenzhen Stock Exchange stood at 1.87 trillion yuan (240.05 billion US dollars).

The aggregate market value was equivalent to 45 percent of China's gross domestic product, which was estimated around 20 trillion yuan last year. At the end of 2005, the proportion was only 18 percent.

Despite the rapid growth, the percentage is still low compared with the 92-percent international average, and against more than 130 percent in the United States, 100 percent in Japan and the United Kingdom, and 70 percent in the new market of India.

Changjiang Securities had predicted that about ten new major blue chips would be listed in 2007, and their scale of stock capital was expected to reach 100 billion to 150 billion yuan.

President of Rising Fund Management Li Zhenning forecast the market value would break 20 trillion yuan in the next three to five years. More optimistic projections are around 26 trillion yuan (3.33 trillion US dollars).