Goldman Sachs research showed warrant turnover on China's stock exchanges reached US$221.2 billion over the first 11 months of 2006, making China the world's biggest market for the financial instrument, the Financial Times reported. Incomplete statistics for China suggested its final figure would exceed US$244 billion. In second place, Hong Kong's full-year turnover came in at US$230 billion. Only 27 warrants were traded in China compared with more than 2,000 in Hong Kong. China warrants can change hands up to 150 times before exercise, compared with just 10 times in more mature markets. Warrants have been approved on a case-by-case basis in China for the past 18 months to help listed state-owned enterprises float non-tradeable "state shares". Blanket approval for third-party issues is currently under consideration. "If the regulator allows third party warrants the market can stay [at current levels]," said Cheril Lee, head of Goldman's securitised derivative products in Hong Kong.