MSCI China Index close to erasing gap with Shanghai for the first time in 20 years

Hong Kong

THE premium of Shanghai shares over China's offshore traded stocks is close to being wiped out for the first time in at least two decades.

The MSCI China Index trades at 17.4 times reported earnings, compared with 17.5 for the Shanghai Composite Index. The gap is the narrowest since July 2014, just before a rally in mainland equities swelled valuations to twice that of offshore shares. MSCI's gauge hasn't been more expensive than Shanghai's since Bloomberg started tracking the data in 1997.