Bring home the bacon this Chinese New Year

Year of the Pig promises to be a strong year for investing in the sector

Barclays Stockbrokers sees an increase in demand for Chinese funds Gartmore China Opportunities most popular China fund on Barclays Funds Market 2007 looks bright for investing in China, according to Barclays Stockbrokers.

In 2005 Barclays only had two China funds in its Fund Market but expanding this in 2006 has seen asset investment in the sector grow by 220%.

The most popular fund on Barclays Funds Market is Gartmore's China Opportunities Fund, with 164% growth in investment since 2005, and ranking 10th across all funds in 2006.

Philip Northey, Director, Barclays Stockbrokers comments: " We have seen a significant increase in demand for Chinese funds on our Funds Market and our Investment Note that is linked to the FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index and expect this to continue in 2007.

Investors are attracted by the current strength of the economy and the strong performance of China funds.

Henk Potts, equity strategist at Barclays Stockbrokers comments: "With an increasingly wealthy consumer base of more than 1.3 billion people, and an economy that is set to maintain a 10% growth rate in 2007, it's not surprising that China has become the world's second largest economy".

"Reforms to China's financial structure - and elsewhere - are setting the scene for a new wave of development, helping consumption to pick up strongly".

"Robust longer-term growth projections should also be supported by a strong increase in both government and industrial investment".

"That should lead to good performance from China's big companies and hence the FTSE/Xinhua China 25.

- Ends - 13 February 2007.

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