SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks fell on Tuesday as the frenzied rally that drove them to multi-year highs a week ago stalled with investors stepping back to see when and where government support will be directed at the world’s second-biggest economy.
The Shanghai Composite slumped 2.5% in heavy trading into the market close while the blue chip CSI300 lost 2.7%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down nearly 4% in late-afternoon trade.
China’s markets have been on a tear since late September when a series of policy announcements drove speculation that the government was finally serious about spending money to salvage this year’s 5% growth target and address flagging consumption.
The CSI300, which is up 20% since the closing bell on Sept. 23, has turned bumpy in recent sessions, and unable to break resistance around the 4,000 mark as the policy promises have lacked details on timing and size.
On Saturday the finance ministry had said it would increase borrowing, without saying when or by how much. Caixin Global reported on Tuesday China may raise an additional 6 trillion yuan ($850 billion) over three years to fund fiscal stimulus.
“We reckon more details will be shared at the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress later this month after the MoF sent a clear signal to investors that it plans to use its fiscal firepower soon at the press conference on Saturday,” said Alex Loo, macro strategist at TD Securities.
Officials have reiterated their intention to achieve around 5% growth, which has stoked expectations that spending is imminent especially as recent economic indicators have been weak. Monday’s trade and new lending figures for September, missed expectations. GDP data is due on Friday and is seen slowing to an annualised 4.5% for the third quarter.
“If we still achieve 5% this year, then we can see perhaps we are already at the bottom of this L-shaped path (for China’s growth-rate), which I think would help anchor market expectations,” said Citi’s chief China economist Xiangrong Yu. “In this sense, it’s pretty important,” he said. “Otherwise, I think, it seems this slow-down process is a non-ending process.”
Most market sectors were lower on Tuesday, with banks and brokers taking some of the heaviest losses as their scorching rally cooled. Mainland developers’ Hong Kong shares fell 4.3%.
Broader markets in Asia were fairly steady, while the yuan slid about 0.4% to a one-month low of 7.1223 per dollar. The coming weeks are seen as crucial to picking up Chinese growth, leaving markets on edge for spending news.
“I believe October and November are the critical time window for deploying the money to form GDP for this year,” said Citi’s Yu.
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