trade in A shares under the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (QFII) program which was officially launched in 2003. Currently, a total of 98 foreign institutional investors have been approved to buy and sell A shares under the QFII program. Quotas under the QFII program were US$30 billion and increased to US$80 billion as of April, 2012. There has been a plan to eventually merge the two types of shares in the future. The SSE is open for trading every Monday to Friday from 09:15 to 15:00. The morning session begins with centralized competitive pricing from 09:15 to 09:25, and continues with consecutive bidding from 09:30 to 11:30. This is followed by the afternoon consecutive bidding session, which starts from 13:00 to 14:57. The centralized competitive pricing starts again from 14:57 to 15:00. The market is closed on Saturday and Sunday and other holidays announced by the SSE. Indices The SSE Composite (also known as Shanghai Composite) Index is the most commonly used indicator to reflect SSE's market performance. Constituents for the SSE Composite Index are all listed stocks (A shares and B shares) at the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Base Day for the SSE Composite Index is December 19, 1990. The Base Period is the total market capitalization of all stocks of that day. The Base Value is 100. The index was launched on July 15, 1991. At the end of 2006, the index reaches 2,675.47. Other important indexes used in the Shanghai Stock Exchanges include the SSE 50 Index and SSE 180 Index. SSE's Top 10 Largest Stocks Source: Shanghai Stock Exchange (market values in RMB/Chinese Yuan). Data arranged by market value. Updated on Aug 27 2020. Kweichow Moutai (2,174 billion) Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (1,339 billion) Agricultural Bank of China (1,027 billion) China Life (897 billion) Ping An Insurance (829 billion) China Merchants Bank (761 billion) PetroChina (717 billion) Bank of China (691 billion) Haitian Flavouring & Food (593 billion) Hengrui Medicine (499 billion) Listing requirements According to the regulations of Securities Law of the People’s Republic of China and Company Law of the People’s Republic of China, limited companies applying for the listing of shares must meet the following criteria: The shares must have been publicly issued following approval of the State Council Securities Management Department. The company’s total share capital must not be less than RMB 30 million. The company must have been in