{"id":151718,"date":"2023-04-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mediaintel.asia\/?p=916223"},"modified":"2023-04-04T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T00:00:00","slug":"foreign-cash-streaming-back-to-china-after-alibabas-plans-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/2023\/04\/04\/foreign-cash-streaming-back-to-china-after-alibabas-plans-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign cash streaming back to China after Alibaba\u2019s plans"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"MediaIntel.Asia\"<\/a><\/div>\n

Foreign investors are steadily marching into China in the wake of Alibaba\u2019s plans to restructure, with money managers reckoning it is the latest sign the national leadership is turning friendlier to business as economic growth gains traction.
\nExchange data shows net foreign buying of mainland-listed stocks every day since Alibaba announced its intention to split up and float its business units last week, for a record quarterly total.
\nInvestors have also turned positive on the company and the stock is up this year after heavy falls in 2021 and 2022.
\nThe flow may be signalling a shift in sentiment among foreign investors who have been notably absent while China\u2019s markets and economy roared back to life after Beijing abruptly lifted its stringent zero-COVID policy in December.
\nThe MSCI China index gained 4.5% in March against a gain of only 2.8% for world stocks and the Shanghai Composite has just closed out its best quarter in more than two years, with a 5.9% gain.
\nDerrick Irwin, a portfolio manager at U.S. asset manager Allspring Global Investments, said the Alibaba breakup and founder Jack Ma returning to China appear part of an effort by the government to extend an olive branch to entrepreneurs.
\n\u201cThis may reignite investment in the private sector,\u201d he said.
\nChina has since late 2020 waged a crackdown on a broad range of industries, leaving startups and its biggest companies alike operating in an uncertain environment. It punished tech companies for monopolistic behavior among other issues, levying large fines on e-commerce firms including Alibaba.
\nRob Brewis, a portfolio manager at UK-based asset manager Aubrey Capital Management Ltd, said the firm had moved back into Chinese equities this year, mainly based on economic recovery hopes and cheap valuations.
\nAubrey also bought Alibaba earlier in the year, having not owned it for the past two years. Alibaba\u2019s recent plans are positive, said Brewis, who planned to keep \u201cdecent exposure\u201d.
\nAlibaba\u2019s shares are up more than 14% in the five days since the company\u2019s announcement and some 11.7 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) in foreign cash has flowed into China\u2019s markets.
\nThat\u2019s already more than the net 9.2 billion yuan in inflows in February and drove March flows to 35.4 billion yuan and the quarter\u2019s inflow to a record of 186 billion yuan.
\nHUNDRED FLOWERS MOMENT?
\nAlibaba\u2019s plans, which investors think augur another era of growth and capital raising for the company are being viewed as a broad sign of a policy shift because the firm and its billionaire founder were high-profile targets during the crackdown.
\nThe 11th-hour scuttling of Ma\u2019s Ant Financial\u2019s $37 billion public listing in November 2020 ushered in a period of unpredictable government and regulatory scrutiny that sent Alibaba stock down some 80% over two years to last October.
\nLast week\u2019s announcement comes on top of supportive comments from the authorities. Premier Li Qiang assured foreign investors that China would unswervingly adhere to reform and opening up, expanding market access and optimising the business environment.
\nAs many as 67% of investors in the United States are now seeing the start of a trend towards more business friendly actions from Beijing, a recent survey by BofA Securities found, according to a note seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter. BofA Securities declined to comment.
\nErnest Yeung, a portfolio manager at U.S. asset manager T. Rowe Price, anticipated \u201ca gradual process of stabilisation\u201d of private enterprises and the internet sector.
\nHis team has been focusing on investing in \u201cforgotten or out-of-favour\u201d stocks, and built a position in Alibaba last year.
\nThe lingering question is how China reconciles its commitment to business with its political ideology.
\nInvestors will watch \u201cwhether this is like Mao\u2019s \u2018Let a hundred flowers bloom\u2019 campaign that will just be reversed if it doesn\u2019t serve the interests of the Party,\u201d said Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist with Allspring.
\nBe smart with your money. Get the latest investing insights delivered right to your inbox three times a week, with the Globe Investor newsletter. Sign up today.<\/p>\n

This data comes from MediaIntel.Asia's Media Intelligence and Media Monitoring Platform<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foreign investors are steadily marching into China in the wake of Alibaba\u2019s plans to restructure, with money managers reckoning it is the latest sign the national leadership is turning friendlier to business as economic growth gains traction.
\nExchange…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":253,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,65,144,1527,49,586,4,477,194,493,472,401,1542,484],"tags":[3472,10324,1772,10315,3479,3402,4886],"class_list":["post-151718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alibaba","category-beijing","category-china","category-currency","category-e-commerce","category-economy","category-internet","category-investment","category-news-chinese-law","category-online-shopping","category-renminbi","category-shanghai","category-technology","category-united-states","tag-chinese","tag-covid-19","tag-jack-ma","tag-media-intelligence","tag-stocks","tag-united-kingdom","tag-yuan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/253"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151719,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151718\/revisions\/151719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chinalegalblog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}