http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aEBDbejcTDcI

Jan. 11 -- China's stocks surpassed $1 trillion in value after major benchmarks rallied and the government encouraged the domestic listing of state-owned companies such as Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd.

The combined capitalization of shares listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges rose to $1.01 trillion yesterday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China now ranks as Asia's third-largest market, after Japan's $4.8 trillion and Hong Kong's $2.1 trillion.

China's shares more than tripled since July 2005 after a government plan to make more than $200 billion of state-owned stock tradable revived investor demand and paved the way for sales by some of the nation's biggest companies. The economy, which in 2005 overtook the U.K. as the world's fourth biggest, averaged annual growth of 9.6 percent in the past five years.

"China's market value will be able to soon catch up with Japan, if the government keeps up the fast pace of new share sales," said Lin Tongtong, who manages about $182 million at HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co. in Shanghai. "It's an inevitable result of the market rally and the addition of IPO shares."

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China's shares have jumped 76 percent since its world-record $22 billion initial public offering in October. The shares are valued at 36.7 times the bank's earnings, compared with 17.85 times for stocks listed on the Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, which tracks yuan- denominated A shares listed on China's two exchanges, has gained 9.3 percent this year, after jumping 117 percent in 2006. Its shares are valued at 33.69 times earnings.

The index tracking hard-currency B shares in Shanghai jumped 7.2 percent today on speculation its stocks will be merged with local-currency shares. The securities regulator denied any merger plan.

The Shanghai Composite Index, comprising all stocks traded on the bigger of China's two exchanges, surged 127 percent last year and closed at an all-time high yesterday. The measure lost 2 percent today. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. and China Merchants Bank Co. were among the biggest contributors to the gains this year.

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