A Shares Knowledge
  • Terminology
    • 1.1. A Shares

      A Shares are shares in mainland China-based companies that trade on Chinese stock exchange and denominated in RMB.

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    • 1.2. Limit Up, Limit Down (LULD)

      Limit up-Limit down restricts trades in stocks from occurring outside of specified price brand (LULD brands) in one trading day. In China security market, for A-Shares, B-Shares and Funds (excluding IPO and stocks listed on SSE STAR / SZSE CHINEXT Market), the LULD brands are ±10% of previous closing price (±5% for stocks under special treatment).

      Unlike other countries’ LULD mechanism, once the stock price reaches LULD brands, the trading will not close, but allow to trade within LULD brands until market close.

      For stocks listed on SSE STAR / SZSE CHINEXT Market, no price limit is set in the first 5 trading days after the listing. After this period, the daily price limit is set to ± 20% of previous closing price.

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    • 1.3. ST Shares

      According to the announcement of Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges on 22nd April 1998, they would give special treatment (ST) to the stocks of listed companies with abnormal financial conditions.

      - ST Shares – the net profit of listed companies were negative in two consecutive fiscal years, that share is under special treatment.

      - *ST Shares – the net profit of listed companies were negative in three consecutive fiscal years, that share is under delisting risk warning.

      - S*ST Shares – the net profit of listed companies were negative in three consecutive fiscal years, that share has not finished reform of non-tradable shares and is under delisting risk warning.

      - SST shares – the net profit of listed companies were negative in two consecutive fiscal years, that share has not finished reform of non-tradable shares and is under special treatment.

      - S Shares – the reform of non-tradable of listed companies were not finished.


      For stocks listed on SSE STAR Market, according to SSE, the possible delisting threshold can be as follows:

      1. Material Violation Conducts Threshold

      Fraudulent offering; material information disclosure violations; serious violations involving national security, public security, ecological security, production safety and public health

      2. Trading Threshold

      Quantitative threshold for stock turnover, price, market cap., and number of shareholders

      3. Financial Threshold

      Qualitative threshold for incapable of continuing as a going concern; Quantitative threshold for net profit before and after non-recurring gain or loss, operating revenue, and net assets; R&D failure for R&D type companies

      4. Regulation Threshold

      Failing to disclose financial reports on time; material defects in information disclosure or compliant operation

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    • 1.4. XD Shares

      XD is the initial of ex-dividend, on the XD date, the price of shares will reduce to reflect the adjustment on the dividend paid.

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    • 1.5. XR Shares

      XR is the initial of ex-rights, on the XR date, the shares price usually drops due to increase in no. of shares.

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    • 1.6. DR Shares

      DR is the initial of Dividend and Right. Some listed company would exclude right and dividend on the same date.

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    • 1.7. N Shares

      N is the initial of New. When there is an ‘N’ in front of the stock name, it is the initial offering date of that share. And that share is not restricted by LULD on initial offering date.

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    • 1.8. QFII

      Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program allow foreign institutions (including but not limited to funds management company, insurance company, securities company) to invest in RMB-denominated equity and bond markets.

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    • 1.9. QDII

      Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) is an investment scheme under which domestic institutional investors authorized by the government could invest in the overseas capital markets under the foreign exchange control system in China.

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    • 1.10. Release of Non-tradable Shares

      In China listed companies can issue two classes of shares: those which are listed on and exchange and can be freely trade by normal investors (tradable shares) and those which cannot (non-tradable shares).

      Release of non-tradable shares means allowing non-tradable shares to be freely trade in the market.

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    • 1.11. First 3 Digits of Stock Code

      • First 3 digits of stock code in Shanghai market First 3 digits of stock code in Shenzhen market
        A Shares 600, 601 000, 001, 002, 003 or 004
        (001001-001199 are reserved for Depository Receipts of the Main Board)
        Warrants 580 031
        Allotment of Shares 700
        080
        B-Shares 900
        200
        IPO 730
        Same as Shenzhen market stock code
        CHINEXT --
        300
        STAR 688
        --

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  • Trading Arrangement
    • 2.1. Trading Hour

      Trading period Shanghai market Shenzhen market
      Opening Call Auction
      09:15 – 09:25
      Continuous Auction (Morning)
      09:30 – 11:30
      Continuous Auction (Afternoon)
      13:00 – 14:57
      Closing Call Auction
      14:57 – 15:00
      After-hours fixed-price trading
      15:05 – 15:30
      (For SSE STAR Market only)
      15:05 – 15:30
      (For SZSE CHINEXT Market only)
    • During 9:20 – 9:25 and 14:57 – 15:00, Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange will not accept order cancellation.

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      Day Trading is no allowed for Mainland A Shares market. Investors buying shares on T-day can only sell on and after T+ 1 day.

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      A Shares are subject to the same trading board lot size of 100 shares.

      Except for stocks listed on SSE STAR Market, the size of a single buy shall be at least 100 shares. Odd lot trading is only available for sell orders.

      For stocks listed on SSE STAR Market, the size of a single buy / sell order shall be no less than 200 shares, and may be incremented by 1 share. When selling stocks, any remaining quantity less than 200 shares shall be sold in a single order.

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      The tick size of A Shares is uniformly set at RMB 0.01.

      For stocks listed on SSE STAR Market, SSE shall stipulate the tick size of an order based on the stock price. Specific matters will be specified separately.

      For stocks listed on SZSE CHINEXT Market, during continuous auction, a 2% up/down range is set in terms of limit order.

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      Except for stocks listed on SSE STAR / SZSE CHINEXT Market, the maximum order size is 1 million shares.

      For stocks listed on SSE STAR Market, the maximum order size is no more than 50,000 shares for Market Order; and no more than 100,000 shares for Limit Order.

      For stocks listed on SZSE CHINEXT Market, the maximum order size is no more than 150,000 shares for Market Order; and no more than 300,000 shares for Limit Order.

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      As SSE/SZSE does not provide Transaction details for Level 1 quote data, transaction details in free quote is usually calculated by the difference between price, total volume and total turnover of current snapshot and last snapshot.

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      Rate Ratio reflects the buy/sell pressures on a stock at the moment. If Rate Ratio is positive, it means there is a strong buy on the stock; if Rate Ratio is negative, it means there is a strong sell on the stock.
      (Total Bid Size-Total Ask Size) ×100%
      (Total Bid Size+Total Ask Size)
      Total Bid Size: Sum of Bid size of current price depth available
      Total Ask Size: Sum of Ask size of current price depth available

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  • Fees and Levies.
    • 3.1. Fees and Taxes Applicable to A Shares Trade

      Items* Rate Charged by
      Handling Fee
      0.00487% of the consideration of a transaction per side
      SSE/SZSE
      Securities Management Fee
      0.002% of the consideration of a transaction per side
      CSRC
      Transfer Fee 0.002% of the consideration of a transaction per side ChinaClear
      0.002% of the consideration of a transaction per side HKSCC
      Stamp Duty
      0.1% of the consideration of a transaction on the seller
      SAT

      * Please refer to the latest announcement of the related Stock Exchange website for details.

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    • 3.2. Dividend Tax

      From 1 January 2013, China applied a sliding scale to taxes on stock dividends for individuals, dividends is taxed at diminishing rate over time.

      Holding Time Tax Rate
      More than 1 year
      5%
      More than 1 month by less than 1 year
      10%
      Less than 1 month
      20%

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      Note:
      Information above are abstract from the website of Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Information will be updated from time to time as the implementation progress and it may not reflect the latest progress. For details, please refer to SSE & SZSE website. This information is updated as at 1st Mar, 2021.

      Source: SSE & SZSE

Information provided by: etnet
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