The opening ceremony of the Beijing Stock Exchange (BSE), November 15, 2021. Credit: Xinhua/Li Xin via Alamy
Are global investors falling out of love with China?
Foreigner investors have pulled a net $9 billion out of mainland Chinese equity markets this year — with $7.6 billion flowing out in October alone, according to data from the Institute of International Finance. That may be a tiny amount compared to the overall size of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets. But it's the first time since new trading links with Hong Kong were opened in late 2014 that more money has left China than entered over the first ten months of the year.
Hong Kong’s own Hang Seng Index, where some of China’s best-known companies are listed, has meanwhile plummeted to depths not seen since 2009. And overseas-based investors have withdrawn money from China’s bond market, the world’s second largest after the U.S., every month since February this year, the IIF figures show.
Analysts say the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes this year, which translate into higher returns from U.S. bonds,
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Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. Trade Representative under Donald Trump, reflects on his decision to launch the trade war with China and begin the process of "strategic decoupling" — a process he says the U.S. must see through to the end.
