China's Everbright Securities, which is planning a Shanghai IPO, posted a pre-tax profit of 3.25 billion yuan ($427.8 million) for the first half, a nearly 900 percent year-on-year rise, the Shanghai Securities News said on Thursday.

The company, in which Hong Kong-listed China Everbright Ltd. holds a 39.31 percent stake, attributed the surge in its unaudited profit to the country's booming stock market in the first six months, the newspaper said.

Revenue of Everbright Securities reached 4.66 billion yuan, up 543 percent from the year-ago period, due to sharply higher stock trading commission, underwriting fees and investment returns, it said.

Citing industry data, the report said trading turnover of stocks, funds and warrants in the Chinese mainland reached a record 27.75 trillion yuan in the first half, three times the level for the whole of 2006.

Brokerages are expected to have earned a combined 55 billion yuan in the first half in combined trading commissions, it said.

Expectations of soaring brokerage income have lit a fire under the shares of Chinese brokerages, including CITIC Securities and Hong Yuan Securities , as well as backdoor listing targets of other brokerages, analysts say.

More Chinese brokerages, including Guotai and Junan Securities, Galaxy Securities and Merchants Securities, are gearing up for a local initial public offering (IPOs), industry sources said. ($1=7.596 Yuan)