Mega-cap China tech bears brunt of deepening foreigner exodus

FOREIGN money managers are bailing on some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector as a global exodus from the nation’s equities deepens.

US and European fund managers have sold a net US$1.6 billion of Chinese shares so far this month, following US$3.5 billion of outflows in September, data from EPFR Global and Morgan Stanley show. Tech names are being hit hardest, with companies including Tencent Holdings, Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com seeing the most selling, strategists from the New York-based bank led by Gilbert Wong and Laura Wang wrote in a Thursday (Oct 19) report.

Stocks in the world’s second-largest economy continue to struggle despite a slew of stimulus measures from the government and pickup in economic data. The CSI 300 index of mainland shares has declined more than 4 per cent month-to-date, falling to an 11-month low on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Golden Dragon index of Chinese company American depositary receipts has slumped 7 per cent.

Investor sentiment is “likely to stay fragile, while foreign fund outflow could persist near term without meaningful macro improvement, government stimulus step-up and/or additional sustained market liquidity support”, strategists led by Wang wrote in a separate report on Thursday.

Other firms being sold heavily include Meituan and Trip.com Group, while TAL Education Group was the only name recording meaningful net inflows, according to Morgan Stanley data. BLOOMBERG