CX Daily: Mainland Stocks Soar After Holiday
TOP STORIES
Real estate /
Home sales surged in Beijing during last week’s National Day holiday as buyers flocked into the market after the city’s recent measure to stimulate the housing market.
During the weeklong holiday from Oct.1, new home sales by area in Beijing totaled 28,100 square meters. Daily sales averaged 4,000 square meters, representing an 81% growth from last year’s National Day holiday, according to data from China Index Academy (CIA).
The number of new home subscriptions in Beijing during the holiday was 1.3 times September’s total, CIA data showed. Most projects saw a significant increase in visits and subscriptions.
Corruption /
China’s former Justice Minister Tang Yijun has been expelled from the Communist Party and is facing criminal charges for alleged corruption, the country’s top graft buster said.
Tang, 63, served as the Minister of Justice between April 2020 and January 2023, before he was named as head of the political advisory body of Jiangxi province. In April this year, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), China’s top anti-corruption agency, announced the investigation into Tang.
FINANCE & ECONOMY
Ponzi scheme /
To his followers, Sui Guangyi was a visionary who made his investment decisions based on the principles of Taoism, Zen Buddhism and the I Ching. For more than a decade, they poured their savings into the wealth management products he hustled, some offering annualized returns as high as 160%.
But in their pursuit of money, many of Sui’s investors forgot the Taoist saying: “Gathering too much wealth must lead to huge losses.” That aphorism has now become a reality as redemptions on their high-yield investments have been suspended and dividend payments halted.
Quick hits /
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BUSINESS & TECH
Chips /
Chinese chipmakers popped following the announcement of a raft of new economic stimulus measures in late September, with the shares of some major mainland-based players almost doubling in value over the past two weeks.
The stocks, listed in Hong Kong, have since pared some of their gains, falling in tandem with the bourse’s tech and broader indexes. But the market capitalizations of chip manufacturers and related businesses remain elevated, which analysts say reflects a broader upswing in the semiconductor industry.
BRIEFING
A run-down of key developments in China over the past 24 hours:
Post-holiday rally: Major Chinese mainland stock indexes surged (link in Chinese) on the first trading day after the weeklong National Day break. The Shanghai Composite Index finished 4.6% higher Tuesday after rising by the daily limit early in the day. The combined trading volume on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges hit a record due to strong investor sentiment. However, analysts warned that soaring stock prices could lead to increased volatility.
Attacked in Pakistan: China has condemned another “terrorist attack” in Pakistan late Sunday that killed two Chinese (link in Chinese) nationals riding in a Chinese company vehicle near the capital’s airport. The foreign ministry demanded Pakistan investigate the attack, find those responsible and punish them to the fullest extent of the law.
Holiday travel: Travelers in China made more trips (link in Chinese) and spent more money during this year’s weeklong National Day holiday in a sign that domestic consumption might be picking up.
Corruption: Former Justice Minister Tang Yijun has been expelled from the Communist Party and is facing criminal charges. The 63-year-old headed up the Ministry from April 2020 to January 2023.
Special-purpose bonds: An official from China’s top economic planner said at a press briefing Tuesday that local governments will be urged to issue (link in Chinese) what’s left in their annual new special-purpose bond quotas designated for project construction — worth about 290 billion yuan — by the end of October.
Government investment: At the same briefing, another National Development and Reform Commission official announced that the central government will launch two investment programs (link in Chinese) with a combined budget of 200 billion yuan this year.
Bond holdings: Overseas investors held about 4.6 trillion yuan (link in Chinese) in China’s onshore bonds as of the end of August, representing 2.7% of the total, up 0.3 percentage points from the end of last year.
GALLERY
The weeklong National Day holiday ended on Monday, with travelers making 765 million domestic trips between Oct. 1 and Oct. 7, government data showed. That’s up 5.9% from the comparable period last year. Meanwhile, tourist spending rose 6.3% to 700.8 billion yuan. Both figures surpassed pre-Covid levels in 2019. The most popular domestic destinations were Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing and Shanghai.