Sept. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China's 167 percent stock rally this year has made Citic Securities Co., its largest brokerage with a market capitalization of $39.4 billion, bigger than all but three counterparts on Wall Street.
Citic now has a value greater than those of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Bear Stearns Cos. and Charles Schwab Corp. after rising 233 percent this year. Haitong Securities Co., China's No. 2, has leaped 669 percent and also eclipsed Bear Stearns. The seven largest U.S. securities firms have lost $37 billion in market value in 2007.
Chinese firms will keep growing as the country's investors, with 120 million trading accounts, pour more of their savings into stocks, said Chan Kum Kong, who helps oversee $15 billion at DBS Asset Management in Singapore. The country's three securities companies are four times more expensive than their seven biggest U.S. peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on price to estimated earnings.
``The prospects are definitely bright for Chinese brokerages, which will continue to grow with the market,'' said Chan, whose holdings include Citic shares. ``A few will be able to move out of their domestic markets to compete internationally.''
While Chinese securities firms only operate at home for now, their ascent has already reshaped the list of the world's biggest brokers by market capitalization. A year ago, Wall Street firms occupied the top five slots while China had none in the top 10. Now Citic has claimed the No. 4 position and Haitong, at $20.1 billion, is No. 8.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment