Free-Trade Rumors Spark 'Shanghai' Stock Fever

Zhang Guangdi has watched the market value of his Shanghai International Port Group shares jump 146 percent since Aug. 22, when China’s commerce ministry said the government had approved a free-trade zone in Shanghai. The 67-year-old retiree says he’ll probably sell the 3,140 yuan ($513) stake when the zone, part of Premier Li Keqiang’s plan to liberalize yuan trading and relax government regulation, opens at the end of September. “The stock isn’t cheap,” Zhang says as he monitors price moves with about 50 other traders at a Shanghai Securities outlet in the city’s financial district.