Bourses battered, but A shares likely more resilient
Although A-share market sentiment was impaired by growing global geopolitical tensions on Thursday, a rebound and independent performance can be expected thanks to China's economy-stabilizing policies and dual-circulation development pattern, experts said.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.7 percent to close at 3429.96 points on Thursday while the Shenzhen Component Index shed 2.2 percent to close at 13252.24 points. The technology-heavy ChiNext board in Shenzhen dropped 2.11 percent to close at 2783.9 points.
Experts from Central China Securities said that A-share investors have been largely affected by the volatile external markets as they adopt a wait-and-see attitude. Benchmark indexes have been undergoing fluctuations since Dec 13 and odds are high that moderate fluctuations will continue in the near term. Investors are advised to closely monitor changes in policies, capital and external markets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday authorized "a special military operation" in the Donbass region, and Ukraine confirmed that military targets across the country were under attack.
Panic could be felt in markets worldwide. S&P futures were down 2 percent and Nasdaq slipped 3 percent Thursday morning. Both Germany's DAX and Euro Stoxx 50 monitoring Eurozone counters reported a 4 percent loss in early trading hours.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange's Volatility Index, which is often called the "fear index", jumped nearly 10 percent Thursday morning.
In the Asia-Pacific, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 3.21 percent to close at 22901.56 points on Thursday while South Korea's KOSPI slumped 2.6 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 went down 1.81 percent to close at 25970.82 points.
Russia's RTS Index plunged nearly 35 percent on Thursday morning.
As major tools to hedge risks, commodities saw their prices jump on Thursday. European natural gas futures were up 10 percent in early trading. Brent crude spiked above $101 per barrel while US crude jumped past the $98 mark Thursday morning. Flirting with $1,950 per ounce, gold is advancing toward the $2,000 threshold.
Similar trends were seen among A shares. Mining companies reported the strongest 5.99 percent increase on average while companies with businesses related to precious metals saw their prices rise by an average 5.84 percent.
More importantly, the A-share market's daily trading volume approached 1.4 trillion yuan ($221 billion) on Thursday. Analysts from China Fortune Securities said that the large trading volume is a clear signal of increasing investor participation. Market prices already reflect the geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, as well as expectations of US Federal Reserve interest rate hikes.
But it seems that investors have overlooked China's series of economy-stabilizing policies, or the credit and fiscal easing measures. The market will respond positively to these policies soon, said China Fortune Securities experts.
Kang Yong, chief economist at KPMG China, said that China's economy will be resilient despite rising global uncertainties, given the dual-circulation development pattern and the existing foreign exchange regime.
Hu Yuanyuan contributed to this story.
