BEIJING, July 15 (Xinhua) -- China's major capital markets, including the stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as in Hong Kong, achieved remarkable growth in terms of stock index, capitalization and trading volume amongst other exchanges in the Asia Pacific region in 2007, said a report on Tuesday.

    The Grant Thornton Asia Pacific Capital Markets Guide 2008, which was released by the Hong Kong-based accounting agent Grant Thornton, made the report based on the performances of the 21 largest stock exchanges in the region between 2005 and 2007.

    Andrew Lam, Grant Thornton's assurance partner, said outstanding developments in the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange -- two comparatively new capital markets -- had enhanced their status as fund-raising centers in the region.

    "Their fast development has greatly fuelled economies in both domestic and overseas markets," Lam added.

    The Shanghai Exchange, in particular, became the biggest capital market in China and the second largest in the Asia-Pacific region in 2007 in term of capitalization, only after Japan, said the report.

    Figures show the Shenzhen exchange experienced a four-fold rise in market capitalization in 2.5 years, up from 116 billion U.S. dollars in December 2005 to 489 billion U.S. dollars in June 2008. The Shanghai exchange had a seven-fold increase, from 286 billion U.S. dollars to 2.1 trillion U.S. dollars during the same period.

    "In the long-run, the Shanghai market is expected to surpass the Tokyo Stock Exchange as the biggest capital market in the region," Lam said.

    The report held that the growth of capital markets had also boosted the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market in China. The country's enterprises played more and more active roles in M&A activities.