* Aberdeen worried about some speculative activity in Chinastocks
* BlackRock: China needs more reforms to avert boom-bustscenarios
* China stocks up almost 80 pct since Nov, trade near 7-yearhighs (Adds Aberdeen Asia CEO's comments on China)
By Saeed Azhar and Anshuman Daga
SINGAPORE, April 21 (Reuters) - Aberdeen Asset Management'shead of Asian operations warned on Tuesday that Chinese moneywas moving "a bit like a casino" in domestic stock markets,while BlackRock called on China to reform its capital marketsfurther to avert boom and bust scenarios.
China stocks have jumped nearly 80 percent sinceNovember to trade near seven-year highs. On Monday, ShanghaiStock Exchange trade surpassed 1 trillion yuan ($161 billion)for the first time, making the bourse the world's biggest interms of turnover ahead of the New York Stock Exchange.
Recent strong gains have come despite stretched valuations,prompting a warning from the official Xinhua news agency late onMonday against "irrational exuberance".
Aberdeen's managing director for Asia, Hugh Young, said hewas worried about some speculative activity in the Chinese stockmarket.
"Chinese money is moving a bit like a casino and it's movingoffshore. Within the domestic Chinese market, the levels ofturnover are tremendous," he told Reuters on the sidelines of aCredit Suisse conference in Singapore.
His comments came after Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, theworld's biggest money manager, said his firm believes Chinaneeded more robust capital markets.
"And by having a more robust capital market, it will meanwe'll have less boom bust. Right now, we are experiencing typical boom bust. Let's hope it doesn't end poorly."
Fink added China should expand its capital markets, andneeds more IPOs and better underwriting standards.
But Aberdeen's Young said he was not worried about recentstock gains in Hong Kong because the market had not run up likeChina. Hong Kong's benchmark index has gained nearly 12percent so far in April, but is up about 18 percent for the yearto date.
Aberdeen's China exposure is largely through Hong Kong-listed firms as not many mainland companies meet its qualitycriteria. Key stocks in the Aberdeen Global - Asia PacificEquity Fund include AIA Group, Standard Chartered and HSBC Holdings.
Not all speakers at the conference were downbeat in toneabout China's stock markets.
Robert Parker, a senior advisor for private banking andwealth management at Credit Suisse, told Reuters he did notthink China equity markets were in a bubble.
"Chinese equity markets, nine months ago, were exceptionallycheap, with the price-earnings ratio of less than 10. We havenow moved up. We are no longer in super cheap territory," hesaid. (Additional reporting by Gautam Srinivasan; Editing by EdwinaGibbs)
HSBC Holdings (HSBA)
Standard Chartered (STAN)