Shares in three China-directed web portals are climbing high on the US Nasdaq market, thanks to forecasts that all three could soon turn a profit.

NetEase.com, Sina.com and Sohu.com all ended Monday up more than 7% to levels not seen since late 2000.

Admittedly, none are anywhere near the heights scaled by dot.com stocks before the bubble burst early that same year.

But still the demand, dealers said, indicates that the explosive growth of internet use in China and the continued willingness of its new army of consumers to spend means the boom years could be beginning.

Love-hate relationship

China's relationship with the internet is a fraught one.

Repeated complaints from Western - and Hong Kong-based - human rights groups about the arrest of web-based activists and the routine blocking of foreign news have gone unheeded.

But business use is encouraged, and internet cafes - under strict regulation - are springing up across the country.

China is even working on its own computer operating system based on the free, open Linux system to avoid being in thrall to Microsoft, a dependence it sees as dangerous.

Money in store

There is therefore, some dealers believe, an opening for web portals in China despite the crash their US peers experienced a couple of years ago.

NetEase.com and Sohu.com have both already reported profits on a quarterly basis.

They are expected to repeat the trick for the three months to December, and Sina.com is expected to join them.

"Basically, people are realizing the fundamentals are there, and there's still a big difference in valuation," Changhia Qiu, analyst at boutique investment firm Forun Technologies in Hong Kong, told Reuters.

NetEase's valuation is 20 times its forecast earnings for 2003, while established US portal Yahoo trades at 70 times expected earnings.