Top news of the week
First sign of tightening in China
On January 13, China’s central bank raised the deposit reserve requirement ratio for most banks by 0.5 percentage points to 15%. Effective on January 18, this is the first such raise since June 2008, signalling the government’s determination to tighten the monetary supply and to curb inflation. With more signs of an economy on the mend (including a strong 17.6% year-over-year export increase in December) and concerns for rising price inflation (driven by higher food prices due to bad weather and rising demand before the Chinese New Year), many believe the raise in reserve requirement is necessary at this moment. The explosion of bank loans in early 2010 added to the urgency of such a raise. Statistics show that Chinese banks gave out about CNY 600 billion in the first week of 2010 alone. To put this in context, this is higher than the monthly total of loans given out in July through December of 2009.
To ensure sufficient funding for spring planting in rural areas, agricultural credit coops and other rural financial institutions are exempt from the raise, according to the central bank announcement.
In recent weeks, the government has used various tools to slow down the flow of liquidity from the banking system. On January 7 and 12, interest rates of three-month central bank bills and one-year central bank bills were raised by 4 and 8 basis points respectively.
Market recap
Although investor worries about the tightening of monetary policy still
clouded the market, the Shanghai Composite Index managed to slightly
increase by 0.9% to 3,224 points, while the Shenzhen Composite Index was
roughly flat at 13,264.
Macro and industry updates
China to launch stock index futures and margin trading soon
On January 8, the State Council approved the launch of index futures and gave the green light to the pilot run of margin trading business at a few large brokerage firms. According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), it will take about three months to prepare for the official rollout of stock index futures.
China reports 556 funds with CNY 2.67 trillion under management at 2009 year-end
More than 120 new funds were launched in 2009 alone, according to Morningstar research. The top ten funds accounted for nearly half of the assets under management.
Fund manager / Fund size (CNY billion) / Market share (%)
China Asset Management Company / 265.8 / 9.94
E-Fund / 159.5 / 5.96
Harvest Fund Management / 155.4 / 5.81
Bosera Funds / 150.5 / 5.63
China Southern Fund / 121.7 / 4.55
GF Fund Management / 110.5 / 4.13
Da Cheng Fund Management / 106 / 3.97
HuaAn Funds / 93 / 3.48
Bank of Communications Schroder Fund / 92.4 / 3.45
Yinhua Fund Management / 74.7 / 2.79
Total 49.71
Source: Morningstar
Internet users reached 384 million in 2009
According to China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China’s Internet users increased 28.9% year over year to 384 million by the end of 2009. About 346 million use broadband. Mobile Internet users were about 233 million at the end of 2009, more than doubling from the 113 million in 2008. Music, news, and search are the most popular internet applications, while Internet transactions grew at the fastest pace of 68% year over year.
Contributions from Lun Lu, Iris Tan and Zhao Hu.