Bulls and bears lock horns over China's blue-chip drink maker

Shanghai

KWEICHOW Moutai, the Chinese drink maker made famous when Richard Nixon drank its fiery sorghum liquor on his historic state visit to Beijing in 1972, has been the toast of the mainland's blue-chip stock rally, surging 93 per cent this year.

The stock's eye-popping rise prompted an editorial last month by Xinhua news agency, a government mouthpiece, that singled out Moutai as an example of a major stock vulnerable to value-destructive speculation.

Wh…