Suning, one of China's largest home appliance retailers, has seen its stock price doubled within ten months and become the most expensive share in China's sluggish securities market.

Suning was first listed on the Chinese stock market on July 21,2004 with a price of about 30 yuan (3.6 US dollars) per share. As of Tuesday, its share price jumped to 67.25 yuan. Its Board Chairman Zhang Jindong's stock wealth soared by over one billion yuan during the period.

Considering the current poor performances of the Chinese stock market, this kind of share price surge is surprising. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers yuan-denominated A shares and foreign-currency B shares, slumped to 1172.57 points on March 30, the lowest point since May 19, 1999. The average price level of China's stock market is around 5 yuan per share currently.

Annual report showed in 2004, Suning's net profit totaled 181 million yuan, a rise of 83.22 percent year on year.

Huang Guangyu, another electronics retailer and the founder of China's electronics retailing giant GoMe Appliances, reportedly had a personal fortune of 1.3 billion dollars and topped a rich list in 2004 in China, according to investigation by Shanghai-based accountant Rupert Hoogewerf, compiler of the list for the sixth straight year.

Source: Xinhua