Investors in China equity exchange traded funds have needed nerves of steel in recent weeks. Spooked by the war in Ukraine, anxiety over regulatory crackdowns and Chinese Covid outbreaks, they were in no mood for more bad news.
So on March 10, when the US Securities and Exchange Commission named five Chinese companies listed in New York as the first of as many as 270 that face delisting if they do not supply audit documents, investors took fright.
The $6.5bn KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) lost around 10 per cent of its value on each of the following three days. Then on March 16, a speech by Chinese vice premier Liu He, promising to introduce “policies that are favourable to the market”, brought money flooding back and KWEB reacted by shooting up 40 per cent in one day.