China’s newly-opened A-share accounts hit a six-year low in 2012 as the country’s stock market remains one of the worst performed markets while foreign investors are stepping up their investments in the world’s second largest economy.

China added 5.52million A-share accounts in 2012, almost 50% lower from a year earlier, and less than 10% of the newly-added accounts in 2007 when China’s stock market were at a bullish high, statistics released by China Securities Depository and Clearing Co. Ltd showed.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) hiked 97% in 2007 before sinking 65% in the following year.

The new stock trading accounts which have always been seen as the “barometer for small investors’ sentiment” suggest on-going pessimism towards China’s ailing stock market.

The number of China’s A-share accounts has amounted to 170million with only 60milion of them are active trading. 

The market took on a roller-coaster ride in 2012, recording a 17% gain in the single month of December before dipping to a four-year low, below 2000 points.

Chinese investors became less willing to participate with the total A-share accounts with positions having decreased nearly 2million by the end of December. 

Meanwhile, Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII) accounts added a historic-high of 120 in 2012, as China is broadening accesses for foreign investors.

China is expected to lift the quotas for RQFII and QFII by nine times in the future to give foreign investors more access to the country’s equities market, according to chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) , the country's top securities regulator.

The 169 QFIIs had gained quotas worth of $37.44billion by the end of 2012.