(Bloomberg) — Chinese investors’ demand for better returns overseas is so strong that even an expanded purchase quota for some funds is selling out fast.
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Five global bond funds in the so-called Mainland-Hong Kong Mutual Recognition of Funds (MRF) scheme had to suspend new subscriptions this week as mainland inflows neared a limit. The products in the pool, which allows investors to trade without currency controls, had reopened their doors after the Chinese regulator raised the cap on mainlanders’ ownership to 80% from 50% starting Jan. 1.
The demand surge sheds a light on onshore investors scouring for assets abroad as a recent domestic stock rally deflates and sovereign bond yields fall to historic lows on a dimming economic outlook. The MRF funds’ popularity also shows that China’s financial opening comes at a cost if such strong pent-up demand leads to a stream of outflows.
“Investing in Chinese stocks has been a painful experience for investors,” said Li Changmin, managing director at Snowball Wealth in Guangzhou. These MRFs “likely attracted risk-averse capital seeking to diversify amid the low bond yields in China and investors’ losing patience with stock volatility.”
Hong Kong-based JPMorgan Global Bond Fund, an MRF participant that has $2.3 billion in assets, said it’s suspending Chinese investors’ purchases after new subscriptions on Jan. 6 took the mainland ownership to near a limit, according to its filing.
Market Volatility
It’s not just the MRF funds that are in hot demand. Exchange-traded funds that track overseas stocks enjoyed a year in the limelight as US equities powered ahead, and the trend is continuing.
The Invesco Great Wall S and P Consumer Select ETF, which tracks an S&P 500 consumer index, spiked by the 10% daily limit on Monday in China and has continued to rise through the week. That’s even as investors have to pay a hefty premium of nearly 40% for the underlying assets.
China’s market performance explains why investors are looking offshore. The equity benchmark CSI 300 rose more than 14% last year, its first annual gain since 2020 thanks to a stimulus blitz, but has lost nearly 5% in the new year already. It has fallen in all but one session.
Yields on 10- and 30-year government bonds have hit record lows, as investors worry about a looming tariff hike that may further slow economic growth and spur monetary easing. China’s yield discount to the US has expanded to an unprecedented 300 basis points, underscoring the interest-rate appeal of the latter.
