2020 has been a landmark year for Chinese markets, say Hudson Lockett and Thomas Hale in the Financial Times. Foreign investors have bought more than ¥1trn (£113.5bn) of local assets. Onshore bonds have been attracting particular attention, and little wonder: the US ten-year Treasury bond yields 0.9%, compared to 3.3% for the Chinese equivalent. There were ¥900bn (£102bn) in net foreign inflows into bonds during the year through to the end of November. Local stocks also took in ¥170bn (£19bn) from overseas buyers. The CSI 300 stock market benchmark is up more than 19% this year.
The world’s sudden need for masks and gel, coupled with demand from locked-down workers for IT equipment, has played to the country’s “manufacturing strengths”: medical equipment exports rose 42.5% on a year before during the first 11 months. Electronics exports rose 25% last month on the year.
These new “global consumption patterns” should unwind next year as a vaccine is rolled out, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics told the South China Morning Post. Yet lower exports will be offset by strengthening domestic activity. The Chinese economy has continued to grow “across all fronts”: retail sales rose 5% on the year in November, while industrial production gained 7%.
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