Hot Chinese ADRs and ETFs fell in overnight trading on Friday. XPeng fell 6%; CWEB fell 5%; iQiyi fell 4.5%; Baidu, Bilibili fell 3.4%; Li Auto, Alibaba fell 3%; PDD fell 2%.
A selloff in Chinese stocks deepened on Friday afternoon, as disappointing tech earnings hurt sentiment already weakened by concerns over Donald Trump’s imminent return. In a week that saw Russia lowering its threshold for using nuclear weapons and firing a hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine.
The retreat extends the market’s slide since an October peak, underscoring growing frustration over the pace of Beijing’s fiscal stimulus rollout and jitters over a potential escalation in US-China tensions. The disappointing earnings from consumption bellwether PDD Holdings Inc and online search company Baidu have further dented confidence.
The investors “found nothing has improved from property and equity to consumption — also no positive surprise from corporate earnings,” said Steven Leung, an executive director at UOB Kay Hian Hong Kong.
The market’s outlook has been under debate after a massive rally in late September, driven by monetary easing, lost momentum. Wall Street analysts including those at Morgan Stanley and CLSA have recently trimmed their recommendation on Chinese stocks. Some, however, have said a selloff will be an opportunity to add positions as Beijing likely has enough policy tools to counter US president-elect’s tariff proposals.
There are signs that the stimulus so far has stabilized the economy. Retail sales exceeded forecasts in October. While industrial production increased at a slightly slower pace from the previous month but hovered above a level critical to achieving the government’s 2024 growth target of around 5%.
Yet the rising uncertainties mean the market will see increased volatility heading into 2025.
“The broader market is still facing uncertainties around macro, because better October numbers were partly boosted by early Singles’ Day promotions on the retail side and timing around policy easing on the property side, so some questions around sustainability,” said Xin-Yao Ng, an investment manager at abrdn Plc. “Regarding tariffs, I think Trump will start to negotiate with various governments, but the appointees to the government are many China hawks, so not great.”
Comments