From International Herald Tribune:
Riding an incredible wave of investor optimism, the main Chinese stock index jumped Thursday to close at 2,249.11 points, breaking a 2001 record.
The run-up adds to a powerful rally in which Chinese stock prices nearly doubled in 2006, ending an ugly and debilitating four-year bear market in stock prices here.
Although the Chinese economy has been sizzling over the past few years, until recently the country’s markets had been depressed. Many economists and financial analysts had even labeled the Chinese stock market a casino stocked with companies with dubious balance sheets. But suddenly, after a raft of government changes, investors are once again piling into stocks and sending prices to record highs.[Full Text]