Top news of the week
Start-ups surged on first-day trading on China's "Nasdaq" board
The debut of 28 growth companies on ChiNext, China's growth enterprise board, went with a bang on Friday. The most popular stocks surged by over 200% on the first-day trading, while even the worst performer popped by 76%. Almost 90% of the stocks changed hands on the opening day.
The magnitude of the first-day pop caught many by surprise, given that regulators had put in place strict trading suspension rules to prevent wild speculation on the start-up board on its opening day. According to the rules, trading has to be temporarily suspended for 30 minutes if a stock trades at more than 20% above its opening price. For a stock that surges to above 80% of its opening price, trading will be suspended until three minutes before the market close. What really happened on Friday was that within two hours of trading, all 28 stocks had to be suspended temporarily to stop prices from rising too fast.
After the first-day trading ended, the largest company on the start-up board reported a market cap of CNY 25.7 billion ($3.8 billion). This is a Beijing-based medical equipment manufacturer, with CNY 394 million in 2008 revenue. The median market cap for the 28 growth stocks was CNY 3.6 billion.
Most of the stocks sport a PE multiple well above 60. The most sought-after stock, Huayi Brothers (an influential film-maker and distributor), was priced at an astronomical 250 times earning. These are good numbers for the Shanghai Exchange to quote to silence critics that say their stocks are too expensive. At the end of October 2009, the average PE of stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was "only" 26.
Market recap
Stock indices fell in the first four days of the week, due to investor concerns on the possible withdrawal of favourable policies (including tax incentives) for the real estate sector. Investor confidence recovered somewhat on Friday, due to strong performance of stocks that debuted on the start-up board. For the full trading week, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.6% to 2,996, while the Shenzhen Composite Index declined 4.25% to 12,297.
Macro and industry updates
China to tighten control of personal loans to curb speculation
Banking regulators are sketching new rules requesting lenders to closely examine applications for personal loans, to make sure such loans will be used properly, instead of being funneled into the stock market for speculation. Given government incentives to encourage consumption, new consumer loans surged to CNY 651 billion in the first half of 2009, more than doubled from the same period last year.
Real estate developer excellence shelved Hong Kong IPO
The Shenzhen-based developer of commercial real estate decided to delay the IPO, after several real estate peers had to lower IPO prices and shrink the size of the offering. Excellence previously planned to raise as much as $1 billion in Hong Kong through the IPO. This is the second time that the developer has decided to put off plans to bring itself public.
Tesco restructured business in China
Tesco, the British grocer, is reported to have restructured its China business. Previously managing the whole market out of its China headquarters in Shanghai, Tesco has divided its sales network into three regional units covering the northern, southern and eastern parts of the country. Tesco now runs a network of 67 stores in China, including one that was recently opened in Guangdong. The company is planning to expand in coastal Zhejiang and Shandong provinces soon.
Contributions from Iris Tan.