Central Huijin continues purchase of banks shares

Central Huijin Investment Ltd, an arm of sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corp, continued its purchase of major banks' shares for the fourth straight quarter, according to a statement released Oct 8.

In the third quarter, the major shareholder in China's main State-owned banks bought more than 6.26 million shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, according to a statement from the lender.

By the end of September, Central Huijin held 35.43 percent of ICBC's shares.

In the second quarter, it bought 7 million shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd and 762,600 shares of Bank of China Ltd.

The purchase is the smallest since the fourth quarter of last year, when it announced a new round of banking stock purchases.

In the first three months of 2012, Central Huijin bought more than 50 million shares of ICBC, nearly 84 million shares of BOC, 23 million shares of China Construction Bank Corp, and 29 million shares of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.

The company said in October that it had bought shares in the four big banks after the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at its lowest level in more than two years.

At the time, it bought 14.6 million shares of ICBC, 3.5 million shares of BOC, 39 million shares of ABC, and 14.6 million shares of CCB.

In October, Central Huijin said it would continue to buy banking shares in the following 12 months.