2009/03/15
Cryptic comment on A- vs. H-shares valuation gap
This Bloomberg article brings to our attention that
Shares in the yuan-denominated CSI 300 Index traded at 16.2 times earnings this month, compared with 8.6 times for 43 mainland companies in Hong Kong.
and that
The average gain in China is 23 percent this year, while the same companies are down 4.8 percent in Hong Kong, … China is among three of the four so-called BRICs economies where local shares are providing bigger returns than are available to foreigners … Russia’s Micex index, up 21 percent in rubles since Dec. 31, gained 2.5 percent when measured in dollars. A 9.2 percent decline in India’s Sensitive Index widens to 14 percent in dollars. The exception is Brazil, where the Bovespa Index has risen 5.7 percent, versus a 3.9 percent gain in reals.
The A-shares have always been overvalued compared to the H-shares, when measured against any benchmark currency and people have puzzled over this for a long time. The article itself offers two explanations
(Read the article)