The Search for the Next MicrosoftPublished: 17 Sep 2009 17:52:31 PST<p class="authorInfor"]</p]<P]<em]Pondering on stock market (XINHUA) </em] As the Chinese mainland 's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) prepares to begin trade in October, some experts have warned investors to be aware of the high risk. Pi Haizhou, an independent economic observer in China, told New Finance&Economics monthly magazine recently that small and medium investors are unlikely to make any money on the GEM. His comments follow:</P]<P]A dream</P]<P]July 15, 2009 marked the first day that ordinary investors could open accounts on the GEM, or the second market, implying that the GEM had its own clients from then on.</P]<P]The launch of the GEM has fueled so many fantasies for people in China.</P]<P]Management departments hope the establishment of another capital market will help set up a multi-level market system and provide a financing platform for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). They also hope the launch of the second board will benefit SMEs amid the impact of the global financial crisis.</P]<P]GEM-listed SMEs expect to raise substantial funds by issuing stocks, so as to solve the problem of funding shortage, promote their development, and forge their businesses into strong ones. In addition, the heads of these businesses anticipate becoming upstarts on the new stock exchange. Venture capital companies and securities traders are looking forward to raking in money.</P]<P]Ordinary investors yearn to share in the "fruits" of these enterprises, and some even hope to discover "China's Microsoft" on the GEM. All of this indicates how much people expect from the second market.</P]<P]Risk</P]<P]GEM is actually a venture capital market, and a risky one at that. Yao Gang, Vice Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), once listed six major risks of GEM trading. They include risks for GEM-listed companies in terms of operation, credit, share price fluctuation and technology, in addition to the risks from investors ' blind investment and the risks of intermediary institutions. But the greatest risk lies in the GEM system and its supervision.</P]<P]First, GEM-listed companies might not perform well. Mostly SMEs, they are small in scale, weak in competence, and low in yield and credibility. To satisfy their desire to go public, the threshold to be listed on the GEM is lower than that for the main board. Due to the high risks, banks used to be reluctant to offer them loans, so the risks for investors are obvious.</P]<P]Second, it is easy for speculators to manipulate the share prices of GEM-listed companies because of the small equity in trading. Due to the lack of internal management, illegal inside trading may happen. As a result, investors will become victims of these unlawful activities.</P]<P]Third, the exit system of the GEM is stricter than that of the main market, which will lead more enterprises to drop out.</P]<P]GEM started a fast exit program to promote the market 's performance, shorten the exit time span, and avoid long-term suspension of trading.</P]<P]In accordance with the published rules for listing on the GEM board, for example, GEM-listed companies exit the market directly without listing on another market as required by the main board.</P]<P]If a listed company fails to publish a regular report, it will be ordered out of the market in three months, as compared with six months on the main board.</P]<P]If a listed company 's net assets are in the red, trading of its shares will be suspended temporarily and whether trading resumes will depend on the company's half-year report instead of the annual report as it does on the main board.</P]<P]As a result, GEM-listed companies are more likely to exit the second market compared with those on the main market. Statistics show that some 20 percent of listed companies on the NASDAQ market are forced out of the market in any given yeablister packing machinery���쥸�åȥ��`�� �F���� �ڥ���seoFX ������