China has lost its title as the world’s most liquid stock market as trading halts and regulatory efforts to curb bearish transactions drive away investors.
Daily turnover on mainland exchanges has averaged the equivalent of $202 billion over the past 30 days, down from $288 billion at the start of July. After exceeding turnover on U.S. bourses for about a month through July 8, the value of shares traded in China is now $72 billion lower than in America. Volumes in Shanghai at the midday break on Tuesday were 48 percent below the 30-day average for this time of day.
The unprecedented boom in Chinese stock trading during the first half of 2015 has fizzled as the Shanghai Composite Index sank 29 percent from this year’s high and mainland exchanges allowed hundreds of companies to halt their shares. The collapse in volumes deepened this week as regulators curbed short sales, investigated algorithmic traders and warned investors against placing large sell orders.
“What happened recently will definitely leave a bad taste in investors’ mouths,” said Tang Yayun, a Shanghai-based analyst at Northeast Securities Co. “There has been too much regulatory intervention in this market and some institutional investors may be unwilling to enter the market for the long term.”
Short Sellers
While proponents of the intervention say it’s necessary to restore investor confidence after an almost $4 trillion selloff in mainland shares, critics have argued that China is backtracking on its pledge to give markets more sway in the world’s second-largest economy. International investors have sold almost $8 billion of Shanghai shares through the city’s exchange link in the past four weeks.
Regulators are also probing “malicious” short selling and have examined the futures trading accounts of foreign investors. They’ve banned stake disposals by major shareholders, suspended initial public offerings and compelled state-run institutions to support the market with equity purchases. About 520 companies are still halted on mainland exchanges, versus more than 1,400 in early July.
In the latest curbs announced overnight, China’s two main exchanges introduced measures that restrict short sellers’ ability to sell and buy back shares in a single day, a practice the Shenzhen bourse said may “increase abnormal fluctuations in stock prices and affect market stability.” Citic Securities Co., China’s largest brokerage, said it suspended short selling to change its trading system after the revised rules.
Brokerages Drop
In a short sale, traders sell borrowed stock, anticipating the price will drop so they can profit by buying back the shares at a lower price. China already bans investors from purchasing and then selling the same stock in a single day.
The decline in trading volumes is likely to continue, putting pressure on earnings at brokerages, according to Thomas Ho, an analyst at Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd. Even after the recent slump, 30-day average daily turnover on mainland bourses is double its level in March, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“We are entering a period of low volume in the next three to six months at least,” Ho said. That will have “implications on valuation for some brokerages, which are highly valued given a change in market conditions.”
Citic Securities dropped 1 percent in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday, while GF Securities Co. retreated 1.8 percent.
Apart from regulatory curbs, volumes are also shrinking as leveraged traders reduce their positions and new investors enter the market at a slower pace. Margin debt in China has dropped about 41 percent from its June high, while the weekly number of new investors has shrunk by 76 percent from its May peak.
China’s economic slowdown has also weighed on sentiment, according to Ken Chen, an analyst at KGI Securities in Shanghai. A private factory gauge released on Monday fell to a two-year low in July, while an official index on Saturday slipped to a five-month low.
“Investors are still in a panic after the stock rout and they are not willing to pile into the market to buy at this stage,” said Wei Wei, an analyst at Huaxi Securities Co. in Shanghai. “It will take some time for the market to recover.”
source: Bloomberg
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