FOREIGN HOLDINGS EXCEED 1TRIL YUAN

Market deregulation, MSCI inclusion fuels demand for select blue chips

SHANGHAI

FOREIGN holdings of Chinese shares exceeded one trillion yuan (RM639.15 billion) for the first time in September, central bank data showed yesterday, as capital market deregulation and MSCI’s China inclusion fuelled demand for select blue chips.

Foreign holdings represent just 1.7 per cent of China’s nearly US$9 trillion (RM38.07 trillion) market capitalisation, but a growing number of overseas investors are targeting companies with stable yield, or “new economy” stocks — such as consumer goods firms and drug makers — that promise high growth potential.

“Overseas investors are attracted to A-share companies that cannot be bought elsewhere, such as Moutai, or Wuliangye,” said Bin Shi, head of China Equities at UBS Asset Management (Hong Kong) Ltd, referring to China’s popular alcohol producers.

With hundreds of billions of dollars flowing in and targeting a small number of companies, “the accumulative impact should not be underestimated”, said Shi.

By the end of September, foreign holdings in yuan-denominated A-shares hit a record 1.021 trillion yuan, up 50 per cent from a year earlier, the data showed. A year earlier, the figure was 656.2 billion yuan.

Foreign investor interest has heightened as Beijing opened its capital markets wider to woo inbound investment over the past year. In December last year, China launched the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, broadening a cross-border channel that already linked Shanghai and Hong Kong.

US index publisher MSCI’s decision to include China A-shares into its global indexes next year added further momentum.

“Global capital is gushing into China,” said Ma Xixun, executive director at asset manger PinPoint. “Foreign investors are realising that being consistently bearish on China is not good for their fund performance.”

Foreign capital worth more than 300 billion yuan has so far flowed into Chinese stocks via the Connect scheme, boosted by strong demand for companies ranging from home appliance makers Midea and Gree, to electricity giant Yangtze Power and diary producer Yili.

Another investment channel, the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor programme, also showed a preference for blue chips.

The CSI300 index has risen 20 per cent so far this year. In contrast, start-up board ChiNext, once the darling of local investors and a hotbed for speculation, has slipped five per cent.

“Previously, China’s A-shares changed hands mainly among local investors... but with increasing foreign participation, China’s market structure is changing,” said Shi at UBS Asset Management. Reuters