The net income of 11 Chinese securities brokerages was multiplied by nine last year, ending a four-year money-losing period.

Combined net income reached 4.4 billion yuan (570 million U.S. dollars), compared with a loss of 520 million yuan in 2005, according to their annual reports posted on the website of the Securities Association of China.

Analysts said the results came as Chinese thronged to seek high yields on the domestic stock markets that surged 130 percent last year.

The 11 brokerages are Citic Securities, Ping An Securities, Changjiang Securities, First Capital, Sinolink Securities, Golden Sun Securities, Hongyuan Securities, Hua An Securities, Huahong Securities, Nanjing Securities and Tibet Securities.

Their turnover last year stood at 10.8 billion yuan (1.4 billion U.S. dollars) with five billion yuan coming from trading fees paid by clients and 2.6 billion yuan from their own securities investment returns, according to the reports.

Citic Securities, the nation's largest publicly traded brokerage, has the biggest turnover and net income followed by Ping An Securities and Changjiang Securities. It reported a turnover of 5.8 billion yuan and net income of 2.4 billion yuan in2006. (one U.S. dollar equals 7.72 yuan)