China faces a stock market breakdown

China's economy is humming along in top gear but its domestic securities markets remain stuck in neutral. As the central government continues to struggle with financial reform, losses mount and systemic risk increases.

Meddling in the markets

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EVEN IN THE face of the current slowdown, China’s annual GDP growth is motoring along at about 8%. So why are China’s stock markets drifting listlessly? The two domestic securities markets, in Shanghai and Shenzhen, have barely moved in three years. Their combined market capitalization, officially some $500 billion and second in size in Asia only to Japan’s, is in fact less than $200 billion when account is taken of what is actually tradable and not state-owned.

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