Even as China’s economy has faltered, growing at its lowest pace in more than five years in the third quarter, the stock market has surged. Investors, it seems, are betting that the weak economy will force the central bank to pump cheap money into the financial system.
Other forces are at work. The launch of the Hong Kong-Shanghai stock connect, which will give foreign investors access to the Shanghai market, has stoked bullishness, amid expectations that foreign inflows will lift demand for shares once the pilot programme gets under way.
Chinese equities have outperformed every leading market for the past three months. The CSI 300, an index of large companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen, is up 13 per cent in that time, way ahead of India’s 0.5 per cent gain, the distant second best in Asia. The index hit a near 20-month high this month before retreating slightly.