China Stocks to Jump 30% This Year, Top-Ranked Broker Says
By Ye Xie Jan 7, 2015 11:43 PM PT 3 Comments
Chinese stocks will rise 30 percent this year following a 53 percent surge in 2014 as policy makers reduce funding costs and push through reforms, according to China International Capital Corporation, which correctly called last year’s rally.
While the Shanghai Composite Index soared to a 5 1/2 year high Wednesday, it is still 45 percent below an all-time high reached in 2007, with valuations remaining low, according to Huang Haizhou, managing director at CICC, which was named the top China research team by Institutional Investor magazine for a third year in 2014.
“This is a multi-year rally,” Huang, who predicted last January that China’s stocks would jump 20 percent in 2014, said in New York at an annual conference on the nation’s economic outlook hosted by the National Committee on United States-China Relations. “There’s still time to buy.”
China was the best equity performer last year globally, surpassing Japan as the world’s second-biggest stock market, spurred by speculation that authorities will further ease monetary policy to support waning growth. Optimism is increasing amid a housing slowdown that’s diverting capital to the stock market and after regulators allowed Hong Kong investors to buy shares in Shanghai for the first time.
The Shanghai Composite fell 2.4 percent to 3,293.46 at the close today, dropping the most in two weeks, after strategists from Bank of America Corp. and HSBC Holdings Plc forecast declines this year for the benchmark index from current levels. HSBC said the gauge will end the year at 3,100, while Bank of America targets the 3,000 level.
