ChinaHR.com, a Web-based job placing firm, said that of the 2,500 responses this month to a survey, more than 90 percent said friends or relatives had invested in the market and 46 percent said they had opened their own trading accounts.

But just 10 percent said they had a firm grasp of the market, while 56 percent said they were learning as they went, according to the poll. It did not account for the remaining 34 percent.

The on-line survey, published Monday on ChinaHR.com's Web site, called the finding "worrisome."

No margin of error was given and it wasn't clear whether the company had verified each response as unique.

Polls measuring investment knowledge are rare in China, and while the results may not be scientific by Western standards, it does provide a glimpse into the stock market fervor that has lifted the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index more than 50 percent this year -- after surging 130 percent in 2006.

A growing number of individual investors, faced with few investment options and low bank interest rates, have been shifting their nest eggs out of bank accounts and into the stock market. There were some 8.56 million new equity accounts opened in the first quarter of this year in China, compared with 5.38 million for all of 2006, according to Brown Brothers Harriman, a New York-based investment firm.

The survey also revealed a high demand for training and professional investment advice, with two-thirds of respondents saying they would welcome such help.

A recent interest rate hike and other measures to cool speculation appear to have had little effect, although officials on Wednesday said they would crackdown harder on abuses, including slapping trading bans of up to one month on investors under investigation for insider trading.

On Wednesday, the Shanghai index gained 1.5 percent to close at a record 4,173.71.

The investor enthusiasm is broadly based in China, with the Internet eliminating most geographical barriers and making it possible to trade stocks at home or work.

Respondents to the survey were mainly office workers, 60 percent of whom had monthly salaries of 3,000 yuan (US$390;euro290) or les, the survey said.

Despite their interest in the market, few respondents said that had negatively affected their jobs, with 45 percent saying they felt "reinvigorated" at work through investing in the market.

Among other conclusions, nearly 75 percent of respondents said they were using their bank savings to finance stock buys, underscoring concerns about the possible ripple effects of any market downturn.

Yet just 32 percent said they were reinvesting their market earnings, while 68 percent said they used profits to pay bills or buy cars and apartments.

"Stock market investment is like career development -- it's a long-distance race," ChinaHR.com researcher Zhou Yuan was quoted as saying in the summary.

But he also delivered a clear warning that markets cannot climb forever.

"The continued rise in the Chinese market has people under the misapprehension that it's an inexhaustable gold mine and lots are jumping in with no preparation," Zhou said.