As China prepares to launch its first manned space flight in four years, Chinese stock prices are going up.

For the Chinese government, this weekends space shot the countrys first manned space flight for nearly four years is a matter of national pride.

Beijing Bureau Chief

Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitors Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.

For some canny Chinese stock pickers, however, it is a chance to make money.

The Shenzhou 9 mission, due to take off on Saturday, will send three taikonauts, one of them a woman, to dock for the first time with Chinas orbiting space lab. The maneuver will mark a major step toward Beijings goal of building its own space station.

Back on Earth, meanwhile, the flurry of publicity surrounding the launch has done wonders for the stock prices of Chinese state-owned firms in the space sector. One of them has seen the value of its shares jump 16 percent since the mission was announced Saturday.

The Chinese government and the companies it controls are generally tight-lipped about the space program, releasing information to the public only at high points such as rocket launches. Shares go up because they are stimulated by the news, says Li Qin, an aerospace analyst at China Investment Securities in Beijing.

At the same time, adds Mr. Li, launches are evidence of progress in Chinas space sector, which sparks market expectations of the sector, so speculative investors jump in.

The last time China launched a rocket in its space lab program, last year, space sector stocks bucked a falling market to rise by about 10 percent, Li recalls. They have risen by the same amount over the past four days, he says, led by Shaanxi Aerospace Power, a manufacturer of rocket parts, whose shares have leaped 16 percent.

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Space launch: One small step for China, one giant opportunity for investors