BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- China's social security fund will continue its investment in the A-share market, which has been authorized by the State Council and relevant government departments, Li Keping, spokesman for the National Council for the Social Security Fund was quoted as saying by the Economic Daily on Thursday.

    Huge amounts of social security funds rushed into China's A-share stock market in July, the newspaper reported. "This shows that funds with governmental backing are excited about the stock market."

    The recent participation of social security funds has lifted the stock prices of those listed companies engaged in ongoing split share reform, it said.

    The general assets of the national social security fund, which were established in 2000, reached 171.14 billion yuan (20.7 billion US dollars) at the end of 2004.

    By the end of 2004, it put 11 percent of its total assets in China's stock market, with losses of 919 million yuan in the year. Enditem