Market has some revising plans for assets

By Xie Yu in Shanghai (China Daily) Updated: 2014-08-02 08:11

The recent strong performance of the A-share market along with the falling returns of certain online fund products may affect some people's wealth management plans, analysts said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 7.48 percent last month, while the Shenzhen Component Index jumped 8.36 percent.

Some institutional investors have been calling it an early sign of a bull market coming back.

On the other hand, returns and inflows of online money market funds, such as Yu'ebao, keep falling.

Yu'ebao, the online money market fund under China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, had raised more than 574.1 billion yuan ($92.6 billion) by the end of June. But inflows fell to about 33 billion yuan in the second quarter, less than one-tenth of the 356 billion yuan that poured in during the first quarter and far less than the 130 billion yuan inflows of the last quarter of 2013.

"Average returns of online wealth management products like Yu'ebao have slumped to about 4.1 percent, down from their peak of 6.76 percent in January. It shows liquidity is loose nowadays," said Sun Yin, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities Co Ltd.

Sun noted that people may now be more likely to shift to other investment channels for higher yields.

On July 23, Premier Li Keqiang chaired an executive meeting of the State Council (cabinet), where he urged cutting borrowing costs for enterprises through eliminating redundant procedures, cleaning up unnecessary charges and improving credit management and efficiencies at commercial banks.

"The authorities are determined to pump more liquidity into the real economy. And it will, remarkably, bring down the yields of wealth management products, while diverting the capital into the stock market," said Yang Dong, a financial columnist based in Shanghai.

A stronger economy, abundant liquidity and reform measures all contributed to the stock market's rebound last month, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said on Friday. GDP growth hit 7.4 percent in the first half, and growth in the second quarter alone was 7.5 percent.

"As market liquidity is abundant, financing costs are expected to be lower, which is good for the stock market," said Deng Ge, a spokesman for the CSRC.

As economic growth rebounds and government policies become more supportive, there will be more positive factors supporting a stock market rally, said Zito Ji, a mutual fund analyst based in Shanghai.

Deng also said on Friday that the CSRC will allow Internet and high-technology companies to list on the ChiNext in Shenzhen after one year of over-the-counter trading, even if they have not made a profit.

The ChiNext is a special board established in 2009 for high-growth companies.