Shanghai Stock Exchange

    By
    Andrey Orlov
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    The Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) is one of two stock exchanges that operate independently in the Republic of China.

    The modern day SSE was founded in 1990 and is currently the fifth largest stock market in the world, based on the market capitalisation of its listed firms (the other Chinese exchange is the Shenzhen Stock Exchange).

    Because of capital account controls by the Chinese authorities, the SSE is not entirely open to foreign investors, who mostly trade on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The SSE is a non-profit organisation, directly administered by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

    The SSE publishes and maintains several indexes such as the SSE 180 or the SSE Composite. Its trading hours are from 1.00 am to 7.00 am GMT.

    History

    Shanghai is the birthplace of the stock exchange in China and its history can be traced back to the 1860s when shares began to trade in an effort to develop foreign trade. In 1891, there was a substantial increase in the trading of mining shares, leading to the founding of the “Shanghai Sharebrokers’ Association”, China’s first stock exchange.

    In 1904, the Association applied for registration in Hong Kong and was renamed the Shanghai Stock Exchange. It later merged with the Shanghai Securities & Commodities Exchange and the Shanghai Merchant Exchange.

    By the 1930s, Shanghai had become the financial centre of the Far East. When Japanese troops occupied the Shanghai International Settlement in 1941, trading on the SSE stopped until 1946. Three years later it closed again as a result of the Communist revolution.

    The SSE was re-established and reopened to the outside world in 1990.