The fall of 54 per cent in Shanghai share prices this year has taken valuations to much more attractive levels that compare with companies in the US, according to Jing Ulrich, head of China equities at JPMorgan in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai market was Asia's best performer last year, with the Composite index rising 141 per cent in an eight-month rally that peaked in October. The stock market became home to world's first company with a trillion-dollar value, the oil refiner PetroChina.