CHINA has invited fund management companies to bid for the right to manage stock investments for the national social security fund, which is expected to be allowed to trade shares soon, State newspapers said Tuesday.

　　Regulators may soon permit the social welfare fund to invest in stock markets through five fund management firms, a move calculated to boost market liquidity and help the welfare fund hedge its investments, several newspapers reported.

　　Industry sources estimated that between 20 to 30 billion yuan could flow into stocks if the government went through with a plan, proposed last December, to allow 40 percent of the fund into the market, the Shanghai Daily said.

　　The fund — which groups pensions, employment insurance and medical insurance — is 61.64 billion yuan at present, the newspaper said without elaborating.

　　Ten of China’s 18 securities fund management companies plan to apply to the Social Security Fund Council to manage the fund.

　　Among the five expected to be chosen to trade stocks on behalf of the fund are Hua’an, Guotai and Changcheng fund management companies, the newspaper said.

　　(SD-Agencies)