Hitting historic lows appears to have become so easy for mainland B-share indices that the news no longer sets the hearts of investors pounding.
Take the Shanghai B-share market, created for foreigners in 1992 but also invested by mainlanders. In four of five trading sessions last week, the B-Share Index only had to edge down by less than one point to achieve new lows, a trend mirrored in Shenzhen.
The index lost just 0.493 point for the week to finish at 25.24 points. In percentage terms, it was down 1.91 per cent for the week.
In Shenzhen, the index lost 0.14 point, or 0.29 per cent, for the week to finish at 47.7 points.
Combined daily turnover of B shares traded on the two markets was a fraction of the A markets: about 15 million yuan (HK$13.96 million) for Friday, against 5.57 billion yuan for A shares.
'The B-share companies are announcing their results soon, and investors are not optimistic about their performance in general,' China Guotai Securities analyst Chen Xiaofeng said.
Such has been the investor interest that prices of nearly all 108 stocks traded on the B markets have fallen below their issue prices and net asset values.