The booming Chinese stock market was responsible for up to half the earnings growth of companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen duirng the first six months of 2007 - a worrying trend that analysts say will exacerbate any market downturn.

After all the booming housing market was responsible for half the rise in our GDP in 2005 and look where the U.S. market is today. Just putting money into something doesn't mean it really increases in value. Because of the fever of investing in the Chinese market, profits increased on average 71 per cent in the first half for the more than two thirds of listed Chinese companies that have published results, but profits from core operations increased only about 35 per cent. This just might mean an upcoming boom of a different sort, namely implosion.