Commentary: Who keeps crashing China’s stock market?
Over the past decade, the domestic market has endured at least three bear runs that prompted emergency government bailouts, says Shuli Ren for Bloomberg Opinion.
China's stock market has suffered three bear markets over the past decade, prompting emergency government interventions. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has recently deployed its market support playbook again to stabilize the market. Beijing has stepped up its operations while regulators are resorting to window guidance to curb selling.
Analysts are pointing fingers at various market participants for the recent decline. Shuli Ren of Bloomberg Opinion notes that insurers, particularly state-owned ones, have been increasing their stock holdings. Prominent investor Hong Liang from Shiva Capital Group has accused insurers of piling into technology stocks near their July peak and then cutting positions.
However, the market has changed, with margin financing falling and northbound turnover through the Stock Connect with Hong Kong decreasing. This suggests that leveraged traders and foreign hot money are unlikely culprits. The government's window guidance and requirements for insurers to report their equity holdings and align investments with broader economic goals may be unintended consequences of their policies.
Long-only institutional investors, who have been steadily increasing their stock holdings, may now be facing the consequences of their actions. As the government grapples with the consequences of its own policies, the question remains: who will be blamed next time the PBOC has to put out a fire?
Written by urgent.news from CNA - Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
Also reported by 1 other outlet
- Commentary: Who keeps crashing China’s stock market? channelnewsasia.com
