Vested
China’s Stocks Rise Most in 2 Months on Foreign Funds Prospects By Weiyi Lim
China’s (IFB1) stocks rose, driving the benchmark index to the
biggest advance in almost two months, after the government said it will more than double the amount foreigners can invest in equities, bonds and bank deposits.
Citic Securities Co. jumped more than 5 percent, leading a rally for brokerages, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission increased quotas for qualified foreign institutional investors
to $80 billion from $30 billion. “Investors think the increase in QFII quotas will boost blue-chip stocks in China, so shares are rising today,†said Chen Liqiu, a strategist at Jianghai Securities Co. in Shanghai. “In the mid-to-long term, such a policy will definitely spur gains for Chinese equities.â€
China accelerated the opening of its capital markets by more than doubling the amount foreigners can invest in stocks, bonds and bank deposits as the government shifts its growth model to domestic consumption from exports. Offshore investors will also be allowed to pump an extra 50 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) of local currency into the country, up from 20 billion yuan, according to a statement on its website April 3.
The regulator had granted
a total of $24.6 billion in quotas to 129 overseas companies since the program first started in 2003 through the end of March. About
75 percent of assets were invested in Chinese stocks, with the rest in bonds and deposits, according to the statement.
China is
“almost guaranteed†to either cut interest rates or reserve requirement ratios in April, Dariusz Kowalczyk, a Hong Kong-based strategist at Credit Agricole, said in a Bloomberg television interview yesterday. The strategist cited comments made by Premier Wen Jiabao on April 3 that he plans to release fine-tuning measures “soon.â€
Stocks on the Shanghai Composite Index trade
for 9.7 times estimated earnings, compared with an average valuation of 23.8 times for equities in the Bloomberg measure for U.S.-traded Chinese companies.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-0 ... liday.html