April 26 (Xinhua) -- China's most popular financial and securities website: homeway.com.cn, announced here today that it has launched an e-trading platform in collaboration with CITIC Securities Company, a major securities broker in China. CITIC Securities hence becomes the first broker to open on-line stock trading services after the China Securities Regulatory Commission's (CSRC) recent promulgation of regulations on Internet stock trading.

The platform currently provides financial and securities news, real-time market information, on-line consultation, account management, on-line trading, and other services. The homeway website said its services will be expanded to on- line banking, insurance, foreign exchange trading, and other services in the future.

China currently has nearly nine million Internet users and more than 40 million stock investors, and over 20 securities brokers have opened on-line trading services.

Information from the CSRC said that on-line trading now accounts for one percent of the total stock trading volume in the country.

Investigations show that the Internet has become an increasingly important source of information for China's stock investors.

Yang Huaiding, one of the earliest and most successful small investors in China, well known as "Millionaire Yang", said he used to subscribe to 73 newspapers, but now that he has gone on-line, he no longer needs the newspapers.