JPMorgan China fund JV lures 90 bln yuan in a day

SHANGHAI, April 11 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s (JPM.N) Chinese fund management venture said on Wednesday it had received nearly 90 billion yuan ($11.7 billion) of subscriptions to its new equities fund in a single day -- over 10 times its original sales target.

The oversubscription ratio is one of the highest seen at any fund since China's stock market bull run began a year ago, and suggests new Chinese investors are continuing to enter the market, fund managers said.

China International Fund Management Co. initially hoped to raise up to 8 billion yuan with its new retail fund, which will invest in consumer-related stocks, the joint venture's chief executive Mandy Wang told Reuters in March.

The company said on Wednesday it had now decided to raise up to 10 billion yuan, while returning the rest of the subscriptions to applicants. The new fund, which is the venture's sixth, began sales on Tuesday and closed them at the end of the day.

In December, Harvest Fund Management Co., China's largest fund company, raised a record 41.9 billion yuan in a one-day sales promotion.

This year, however, regulators are capping new funds at 10 billion yuan each, partly out of concern that excessively large funds could destabilise the industry or the stock market, industry sources say.

More than 50 new mutual fund applications are awaiting Beijing's approval, and industry sources told Reuters on Monday that the process could be slowed by regulators' worries about the stock market overheating.

China's benchmark stock index .SSEC, which set a fresh all-time high on Wednesday, is up 31 percent from the end of last year and soared 130 percent in 2006.

Last week, HSBC Holdings Plc.'s (0005.HK)(HSBA.L) fund management joint venture HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co. raised about 5.3 billion yuan for its new equities fund. ($1=7.725 Yuan)