By Zheng Buchun

A-shares rebounded slightly Wednesday. Newly listed small-caps were doing well and stocks of brokerage firms led the way in yesterday's afternoon session. In the end, Shanghai Composite closed 0.44% higher at 3166.98 points and Shenzhen Composite 0.79% higher at 1941.79 points.

Stocks of brokerage firms are critical to market trend. Huaan Securities and many others have made significant gains with First Capital rising to its daily limit. If they perform well, share indexes will also do well, at least in the short-term. But the best-performing ones are always newly listed small-caps, indicating the stocks held by institutional stockholders lack strength. So investors shouldn't expect too much from their long-term performance.

Large institutions often take advantage of the National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference that held in March each year. Judging from regulators' remarks, investors should pay special attention to stocks with reform expectations during the meeting days this year. If no other weighted stocks emerge, share indexes may fluctuate a little bit. Remember don't be too obsessed with high stock prices.

(Zheng Buchun is NBD's columnist)

Email: tanyuhan@nbd.com.cn