After issuing the Shanghai Composite Index, Shanghai 30, 180 and 50, China's stock market will finally have a unified stock index which comprises 300 A shares listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

The Shanghai/Shenzhen 300 Index will be officially released on April 8.

The first batch of sample shares includes 121 Shenzhen-listed and 179 Shanghai-listed individual shares. The index is named Shanghai/ Shenzhen 300, with a base date point of 1,000. The sample shares cover more than 60% of market value and over 80% of profits in China's stock market, making the unified index a good representative.

A spokesman from the Shanghai Stock Exchange said that before the issuance of the unified index, both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges had their own independent composite and component indices.

China's securities market lacks an index that can reflect the overall tendency of the two exchanges. However, this problem will be solved by the issuance of the Shanghai/Shenzhen 300.

Moreover, the 300 Index also paves the way for a series of financial instruments that will serve a hedging function, such as index futures. It will have a continuous and far-reaching influence on the development of China's securities market.

(Xinhua)