Foggy_Bottom
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When does a stock market correction become a crash? Right about now if you’re sat in Shanghai watching the value of your portfolio disappears down the Yangtze River.
China’s main stock index is in freefall after enjoying a bull run that saw the Shanghai Composite gain 106pc in the past year on a wave of exuberance among investors lured by valuations, talk of initial public offerings and the expectation that Beijing will eventually launch a massive fiscal stimulus programme to boost the economy.
On Friday, the blue-chip CSI 300 index plummeted 7.8pc, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite declined by the same margin to post its lowest close since May. In the past two weeks around $1.2 trillion (£600bn) has been wiped off the value of Chinese listed companies since the market reached its peak on June 12.
Since the beginning of the year China’s stock market bubble has inflated to epic proportions as speculators piled in by borrowing money to buy stocks in ever larger volumes. At the beginning of the year, the value of outstanding loans used by securities firms to fund investment had swollen to exceed $260bn. By the beginning of this month that figure had grown to $364bn.
Many of those investments are now worth less than the value of the loan as more traders exit the market in order to cover margin calls on their outstanding debts. Given the scale of leveraging that underpins both the Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes, few experts are predicting that the current stocks rout will end until more of this debt is washed out of the system.
According to Augustin Eden at Accendo Markets: “It’s like rats leaving a sinking ship, and a terrible day for any investment trust dedicated entirely to long-term investments in mainland China.”
His view was shared by Jonathan Garner, head of Asia and emerging market strategy at Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong. He advises that now is not the time to buy into the dip in Chinese stocks, with the market teetering on the brink of entering bear territory.
Despite fears in Asia that the current standoff between Greece and its creditors could pose a wider risk for the global economy, it appears more likely that the real cause for the crash lies closer to home.
‘Rats leaving a sinking ship’ as China’s equity bubble implodes - Telegraph