Shanghai index up 18% since late November

A sharp increase in newly opened stock trading accounts at brokerage firms over the past week could mark the early signs of small investors storming back to the market.

Data from China Securities Depository and Clearing Corp Ltd show that 117,600 new accounts were opened from Jan 14 to Jan 18, a 13.4 percent rise on the previous week, bringing the total number of active trading accounts to more than 12.6 million.