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Eunice Yoon: Housewives to little old ladies to couples dreaming of the future. Investors are scrambling to buy a slice of one of China's biggest Initial Public Offerings(IPO) ever, the Bank of China.
“You don't want to miss out. If everyone else is going their droves, you follow too. ”
Eunice Yoon: BOC is the country's second largest lender, one of the many troubled banks turning to the markets in search of money to reform itself. The bank has raised 9. 7 billion dollars, making its IPO the largest the world has seen in 6 years. Some of the funds came from the pocket of 72 -year-old Mr. N, a veteran investor. N borrowed cash from his sister to buy his 2, 000 shares. They cost him about 800 US dollars. When it comes to banking shares, this is the biggest. It's a national stock and a good company. A million Hong Kong residents thought so too when the bank took applications for the shares 2 weeks ago. The queues of eager would-be investors lined up block in the city where trading stocks is a national pastime.
“Some of my customers, they haven't bought the shares for so long. This time. . . . . they try again. They have the confidence.”
“In fact, investors here are already talking about the next bank on Beijing's list, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's biggest bank. ”
Eunice Yoon: Buying into a big state bank like Bank of China or ICBC certainly allows investors such as these people here to tap into China's economic growth. But analysts say: buyers beware.
“People need to be appreciated that this is still an emerging market. There're huge systematic risks that have not yet been resolved. The banks are still at the early stages of changing their credit culture. The profitability is nothing like a foreign bank. So, be careful with where you put your money. ”
Eunice Yoon: Words of caution that fall on deaf ears, for many of those hoping to ride the coattails of China's economic might.
Eunice Yoon:, CNN, Hong Kong.
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1. Emerging Market Economy
Countries that are starting to participate globally by implementing reform programs and undergoing economic improvement. The countries that have emerging markets together represent a large percentage of the world's population while accounting for a relatively small percentage of the world's economic production. Emerging markets tend to be more volatile than established markets due to uncertainty within the political scene and domestic currency.
2. coattails
1 if you achieve something on someone's coattails, you achieve it because of the other person's power or success: on sb's coattails
--A number of Republican congressmen were elected on Bush's coattails.
2 the cloth at the back of a tailcoat that is divided into two pieces:
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