Investor sentiment for Chinese equities and bonds continues to weaken, both offshore and onshore. Reports of sporadic and ever more frequent lockdowns across the country, most recently in Chengdu and Shenzhen are rattling confidence and many global investors have chosen to sell amid the ongoing uncertainty. The negative sentiment among investors has been compounded by ongoing investigations by the Chinese government into internet monopolies. Coupled with ADR delisting risk (which is not over until the pcaob has completed their audits and some say they want to start with Alibaba’s papers) along with high profile reports of mortgage boycotts by purchasers of uncompleted housing projects are only compounding the sense of unease about china’s macro growth and corporate profits going forward. Despite the nearly 20% plunge in the value of the CSI 300 index so far this year, an index composed of 300 of the largest and most liquid stocks listed onshore in Shenzhen and Shanghai, onshore
There have been many negative media headlines recently about the collapsing stock prices of famous Chinese ADR companies and Hong Kong large caps due to a combination of regulatory uncertainty and in the case of the ADRs, potential delisting by the American authorities. Year to date the Shanghai Stock Exchange SSE 50 Index, which is an index of the fifty largest and most liquid A-share stocks listed in Shanghai, has declined 10% compared to a 20%+ increase for the SP 500. Over the past five years, the SSE 50 Index, as well as other key indices for markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and to a lesser extent Shenzhen, have all underperformed the S&P 500. Of major Chinese indices, the Shenzhen 100 Index (SZSE 100), which tracks the largest 100 stocks listed in Shenzhen, has evidenced some of the best performance with a return over the last five years of ~88% compared to ~105% for the S&P 500. This chart shows the S&P 500 versus the SSE 50 over the past five years and is not adjus