Will China's Recent Financial Policy Patchwork Mend Alibaba And Tencent?

China is doing what it can to shore up investor confidence as the Chinese equivalent of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index (SSE), is trading around the same price as it was when the year started, giving up the gains it enjoyed throughout the first eight months of 2023.

What Happened: The Xi Jinping-led country is dealing with an economic rout, triggered by declining exports, weak domestic demand a historic real estate crisis, among other headwinds.

To that end, China's Ministry of Finance reduced its "stamp duty" on securities transactions to 0.05% over the weekend — an effort to spur market activity and boost sentiment.

And, it worked — for a few hours.

At first, Chinese markets responded enthusiastically, with mainland stocks on the CSI 300 Index jumping 5.5% higher. As the session wore on, the rally lost its steam, eventually settling just 1.2% higher.

International investors seem to remain skeptical, Bloomberg noted, with foreign fund outflows marking a new record for the month.

Traders initially welcomed the raft of market support measures, including not only the reduction in the levy charged on stock trades but also restrictions on share sales by major stakeholders and a slower pace of IPOs. But, it seems like cosmetic changes won’t cut it.

As Lin Menghan — a fund manager at Shanghai Xiejie Asset Management Co. — told Bloomberg, “The measures addressed the issues of outflow and dilution of funds, rather than where fresh liquidity will come from.”

Despite the last stamp duty cut in 2008 initiating a 9.3% rally, Monday’s close was a far cry from that success, ending just 1.1% higher.

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Policy Measures: Chinese regulators employed a variety of strategies to stem the tide of waning investor confidence, including encouraging larger financial institutions like pension funds and big banks to increase stock investments. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) even approved the launch of 37 retail funds aimed at supporting the market from the ground up.

The real issue is the economic slowdown, magnified by structural problems like a weakening property market and high youth unemployment. Kenny Wen — KGI’s head of investment strategy based in Hong Kong — told South China Morning Post, “These policies will only help in the short term, as investors are still concerned about China’s fundamental problems.”

Last Word: The introduction of new policies, especially the stamp duty reduction, may have provided a momentary shot in the arm for China's stock market, but traders may be looking at it as another Band-Aid on a deeper wound.

While China's markets popped and dropped on the measures, U.S.-listed Chinese stocks opened Monday's trading session higher.

Here's what stocks are moving stateside:

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR BABA
JD.Com Inc JD
NetEase Inc NTES
Tencent Holdings ADR TCEHY
Tencent Music Entertainment Group – ADR TME
Baidu Inc BIDU

Related: China’s Strategic Financial Overhaul Targets Stock Market Revival

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