Here's what happened in China's markets last trade day (8/29):
1. US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo spent a second day in China stabilizing bilateral relations with its third-largest trading partner.
The two nations agreed to set up a joint working group for the first time in three years, which includes representatives from the government and private sector. The group agreed to meet twice a year, with the first meeting to be held in Washington in early 2024. The US and China also agreed to set up an exchange mechanism for export controls but likely dealing with just information exchanges to address the problem of miscommunication particularly to do with export restrictions. Secretary Raimondo’s trip is seen as a precursor to a Biden-Xi meeting.
2. Beijing is intensifying its efforts to support its real estate market by directing its largest banks to reduce deposit and mortgage rates.
Reductions to mortgage rates are said to be applicable to first home purchases and could go into effect immediately. At the same time, the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is expected to cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for commercial banks sooner to boost liquidity just as the lower mortgage rates take effect. China’s embattled real estate sector appears to have found temporary footing with the announcement of measures by the government to shore up confidence. This is giving indebted developers like Country Garden valuable time to negotiate with creditors better terms after some loan payments were delayed. $Global X MSCI China Real Estate ETF(CHIR.US$ $iShares MSCI China ETF(MCHI.US$ $Global X MSCI China Consumer Discretionary ETF(CHIQ.US$ $COUNTRY GARDEN(02007.HK$ $CG SERVICES(06098.HK$ $EVERGRANDE(03333.HK$
3. China’s top electric vehicle manufacturers are putting up big numbers and defying odds in the world’s most competitive market.
BYD Company reported a 72.7% increase in 1H23 revenue, while tripling profits to RMB 10.95 billion. The company managed to increase gross profit margins from 13.51% to 18.33% YoY despite the ongoing price war in China’s EV sector.
Li Auto registered 29,100 units sold in the first 27 days of August, virtually guaranteeing it will exceed its 30,000 sales target to hit a new monthly record. That puts Li Auto in 5th place in China’s luxury car market.
Meanwhile, Nio Inc. came out with a rare disappointment for the sector, posting weaker than expected revenue of $1.21 billion (vs. $1.27 expected) and larger than expected loss per share of $0.45 (vs. $0.24 loss expected).
4. After China’s securities regulators and Ministry of Finance announced a 50% cut to stamp duty on stock transactions, Hong Kong might be next in line.
Robert Lee, the chairman of the HongKong Securities Association, is recommending to the city government to remove the stamp duty for stock transactions for 6 months to 1 year in an effort to revive trading volumes in one of the world’s most important stock exchanges. A suspension of stamp duty in Hong Kong could have an even bigger impact than the one China is undertaking because every purchase or sale in the HKEX is levied a 0.13% stamp duty. That means trading a stock both ways incurs a cost of 0.26% on stamp duty alone, which is significant for any investor, especially those who like to day-trade stocks. $HONG KONG EXCHANGE(HKXCY.US$ $iShares MSCI Hong Kong ETF(EWH.US$ $HKEX(00388.HK$ $HONG KONG EXCHANGE(HKXCY.US$
5. Alibaba’s online travel platform Fliggy announced that summer bookings for domestic travel are steadily outpacing those levels seen prior to the pandemic.
The platform, a relative newcomer in the industry, already ranks third with a 16.5% market share - more than double what it had as of end-2021. This is an encouraging sign for the domestic travel and tourism industry given that Beijing has already opened up international travel and scrapped much of the travel restrictions previously placed on its citizens. Recently, travel restrictions to the US, Japan, and South Korea were lifted, opening up Chinese travel to these favorite destinations. $BABA-SW(09988.HK$ $Alibaba(BABA.US$ $Trip.com(TCOM.US$ $GreenTree Hospitality(GHG.US$ $H World Group(HTHT.US$ $TRAVELSKY TECHNOLO(TSYHY.US$
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Lu Loh : Pointless meetings. The US will only adopt a new policy to deal with China.
我係Essential staff Lu Loh: It's always the right thing. Is there any way