STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Monday, 8 December 2014

[xchrom]

14. CHINA HOPES FOR ECONOMY REBOUND IGNITE STOCK BOOM

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_STOCK_MARKET_FRENZY?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-12-08-05-15-34

BEIJING (AP) -- Gong Bin, a marketing employee in Shanghai, watched Chinese stock prices gallop upward for months before he finally gave in and put the equivalent of 2 1/2 months' salary into the surging market.

In two months, Gong made a 10 percent return on his 20,000 yuan ($3,300) investment.

"My colleagues were always talking about the money they made from the market, so I thought, why not?" said Gong, 27. "It turned out to be the right decision."

Even as a downturn in the world's second-largest economy deepens, Gong and a growing army of other small investors are riding a boom in China's volatile stock markets.

Buoyed by hopes for an economic rebound combined with outright cheerleading by the state press, the market benchmark has soared 49 percent since June, including 8 percent last week alone.