[ET Net News Agency, 17 February 2021] CLSA said strong Chinese mutual fund growth,
relatively wide A/H valuation gaps, and US restrictions on Chinese companies have seen
year-to-date southbound net inflows hit HK$380bn, more than half of 2020's full-year
amount of HK$672bn.
Southbound investors focused largely on buying core holdings like Tencent (00700) and
sanction names, like CNOOC (00883) and China Mobile (00941).
The research house also noted that mutual fundraising has been strong in 2021. In
January, total capital raised by equity funds achieved Rmb319bn, breaking the record high
of Rmb302bn in July 2020.
In the short-term, CLSA said the market is likely to focus back on earnings going into
the full-year reporting season. Longer-term, the H-share discount and the regulatory
arbitrage from Sino-US tensions will still make southbound attractive. (KL)