Chinese investors' exuberance spreads to military stocks
But it is the bosses of weapons makers who are raking in the billions, literally
As military stocks become the new darlings of mainland Chinese investors, company bosses like He Zenglin are amassing fortunes to join the growing ranks of China's US-dollar billionaires.
He, chairman of Xi'an Tian He Defence Technology, which is listed on the Nasdaq-style ChiNext market in Shenzhen, saw his personal net worth soar 10 per cent to US$1.1 billion on Tuesday when shares of the air-defence system maker hit the daily upper trading limit of 10 per cent.
Trading of Tian He was suspended yesterday.
The frenzied buying by retail investors on the A-share market has generated dozens of billionaires - on paper at least - in recent months despite warnings from the securities regulator that the bull run could end in tears.
"Investors are chasing stocks that have great stories to tell," West China Securities analyst Wei Wei said. "It's not unusual that more and more company bosses have become billionaires as their stock prices surge."
According to Forbes business magazine, the A-share rally created about 30 new mainland super-rich whose personal fortunes exceeded the US$1 billion mark each in the past two weeks.