The world’s most powerful asset managers may be establishing a foothold in Chinese stocks, but retail investors still hold considerable sway over this year’s best-performing major equity market.
University students, migrant workers and elderly patrons of trading halls make up the retail investors that were at the heart of last year’s rout and have been central to 2019’s rebound. They accounted for almost all of the 1m new trading accounts opened in January, according to China Securities Depository and Clearing.
“[China’s] retail investors are more momentum driven, and that’s why you have seen such strong market moves,” said Alexious Lee, head of China capital access at the investment group CLSA.