SHANGHAI: Foreign buying of Chinese stocks was tepid on Thursday as benchmark indexes rose on the last trading day before mainland shares join MSCI’s emerging markets index.
The rebalancing of portfolios by global fund managers, as well as from some active investors, had led to expectations that there could be a jump in foreign investment to China’s capital markets.
The June 1 inclusion will see around 230 Chinese large-cap stocks, known as A shares, added to MSCI’s emerging markets benchmark index with a 2.5 percent partial inclusion factor. The second phase of the inclusion will take place on Sept. 3.
China’s MSCI entry will integrate the world’s second-biggest equity market, with a total stock market capitalization of more than $8 trillion, into the global financial system.
On Wednesday, MSCI tweaked the final list of companies, dropping embattled Chinese telecommunications gear maker ZTE Corp. and four other firms whose shares have been suspended from trading.
Over the past two months, foreign investors have been ramping up investment in Chinese shares, including retailer Wangfujing Group, Shanghai Flyco Electrical Appliance and spirit maker Sichuan Swellfun , despite rising volatility triggered by fears of a Sino-US trade war.
ZTE has been caught in the crossfire of the dispute and trading in its shares has been halted for two weeks.
While fund manager strategies are hard to predict, many analysts have forecast inflows of $10 billion around June 1. Passive fund managers seeking to replicate the index are widely expected to buy some $1 billion of A-shares during the final hour of trading on Thursday.
By the midday trading break, northbound flows into Shanghai and Shenzhen amounted to about 3.85 billion yuan ($601.2 million) — a fraction of the more than 100 billion allowed each day, but still higher than in recent days.
“I expect foreign inflows will pick up toward the end of trading day as passive funds are obliged to buy China stocks ahead of the inclusion,” said Yang Hai, strategist at Kaiyuan Securities.
“To some extent, it would help lift sentiment in a weak market,” he said, noting that foreign demand may have guided some domestic money into banking and consumer stocks.
Although the MSCI-related inflows will initially be small compared to the size of China’s stock market, inclusion in the global index will spawn other funds and boost interest in Chinese companies.
“On a longer-term basis, the opening of China’s capital markets represents a once-in-a-lifetime market event and will be one of the primary ongoing themes in the region for many years to come,” said Will Stephens, Deutsche Bank equity strategist.
More foreign participation in Chinese stocks could help improve investment culture, and press China-listed firms to bolster their corporate governance, said Bin Shi, head of China Equities at UBS Asset Management.
“Index inclusion will bring more long-term institutional investors into the A-shares market...which will change the market structure,” Shi said, noting that the market is currently dominated by retail investors.
“As overseas investors become more active in the market, so listed companies in China will be under tougher scrutiny and they’ll have to bring their disclosure and governance practices into line with international standards.”
Foreign flows into China stocks tepid ahead of MSCI inclusion
Foreign flows into China stocks tepid ahead of MSCI inclusion
- Inclusion in the global index will spawn other funds and boost interest in Chinese companies
- More foreign participation in Chinese stocks could help improve investment culture, and press China-listed firms to bolster their corporate governance
Sirens sound in Tel Aviv for the first time in months as Hamas says it fired rockets from Gaza
- Hamas armed wing says fired ‘large rocket barrage’ at Tel Aviv
- Aid trucks begin entering Gaza through Kerem Shalom crossing
CAIRO/TEL AVIV: Rocket sirens blared Sunday in Israel’s commercial hub of Tel Aviv for the first time in months, with at least three blasts reported across central Israel, AFP correspondents said.
The Israeli military said sirens had been activated over central Israel as fighting raged in Gaza, including in the far-southern city of Rafah.
The armed wing of Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had launched a “large rocket barrage” on Tel Aviv.
The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades said in a post on Telegram that they had targeted Tel Aviv “with a large rocket barrage in response to the Zionist massacres against civilians.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the latest barrage.
Earlier on Sunday, aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But was unclear if humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid because of ongoing fighting in the area.
A total of “200 trucks” had moved from the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, which has been shut since early May when Israel seized the Palestinian side of the terminal, to the Kerem Shalom crossing, some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) to the south.
Egypt has refused to coordinate aid through Rafah as long as Israeli troops control the Palestinian side.
But on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed in a call with his US counterpart Joe Biden to allow aid through Kerem Shalom, the other entry point into southern Gaza, the White House said.
Al-Qahera News did not specify how many trucks had made their way through inspection into besieged Gaza, but said “four fuel trucks” had already crossed and were heading to hospitals.
All aid from Egypt is inspected by Israeli authorities and distributed via the United Nations.
The remainder of the 200 trucks were “expected to cross into Gaza today,” Khaled Zayed, head of the Egyptian Red Crescent in Al-Arish — where the bulk of aid arrives — said.
Drones kill 3 as Israel widens southern Lebanon attacks
- Strike near UN peacekeeping base in Naqoura kills Hezbollah member
- ‘We are waiting for you,’ Lebanese MP says after Israeli threat of ‘open war’
BEIRUT: Three people, including two civilians, were killed in drone strikes on Sunday as the Israeli army stepped up its attacks on Hezbollah and its ally in southern Lebanon.
The first strike, near a UNIFIL site in Naqoura, killed a Hezbollah member later identified as Mohammed Baydoun.
A second Israeli drone targeted a motorcycle in Aita Al-Shaab, killing a civilian named as Rafik Hassan Kassem, and badly injuring another man, Hussein Saleh, who later died from his wounds.
Saleh, a mechanic with no political affiliations, used to travel to nearby towns to feed domestic animals left behind by owners who fled the region. Arab News had previously interviewed him.
People close to Saleh said that “everyone advised him to stop visiting border villages in fear of being targeted, but he insisted on fulfilling his humanitarian duty.”
An Israeli drone also struck Jabal Al-Blat, opposite Israel’s Zar’it settlement, targeting a transmission tower for Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV Channel.
As hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel entered their 231st day, Khiam village was subjected to heavy Israeli raids, with military drones striking four targets.
In less than 48 hours, Israeli shelling reached the outskirts of Chihine, Majdal Zoun, Kfarhamam in Wadi Hamoul, Zebqine, and Naqoura.
Shelling subsequently reached the villages of Rachaya Al-Foukhar, Hamoul, Zebqine, Labbouneh, the Makraba forest, and the eastern outskirts of Khiam.
A fire erupted after a number of shells landed on the outskirts of Rab Al-Thalathine, near Al-Taybeh village.
Israeli raids on Aita Al-Shaab in the central sector caused serious damage to property, infrastructure and homes.
Hezbollah also announced the deaths of two people in Israeli raids on Aitaroun late on Saturday night.
One of the victims was named as Bilal Amin Mourad, a former principal in the Aitaroun public vocational school. Caretaker Minister of Education Abbas Halabi mourned Mourad’s death on Sunday.
Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee said that the military struck Hezbollah targets in five regions in southern Lebanon.
He said that warplanes raided Hezbollah’s infrastructure and military buildings in Khiam and Aita Al-Shaab, adding that several areas in Khiam, Houla, Markaba and Kfarkila were also bombed.
Sirens sounded in Israeli settlements adjacent to the Lebanese border, including Shlomi, Betzet, Hanita, Ras Naqoura in western Galilee, Avivim in the upper Galilee, and Kiryat Shmona and its surroundings.
Meanwhile, missiles landed in an Israeli army site near Shlomi.
Israeli Army Radio announced that “two anti-armor missiles were launched from Lebanon toward Margaliot in the Galilee panhandle.”
The Israeli Channel 12 said “about 10 missiles were launched from Lebanon toward the Zar’it settlement in the upper Galilee, with no casualties reported.”
Hezbollah’s operations targeted “technical systems in the Israeli Al-Abad site with appropriate weapons, striking it directly and completely destroying it.”
The militant group also struck “a Merkava tank with a direct missile in the Al-Marj site, destroying it and killing and injuring its members.”
It subsequently targeted the Zibdine site in the Shebaa farms and a building for the Israeli soldiers in the Al-Manara settlement. It also hit two buildings for the Israeli soldiers in the Metula settlement and two other buildings for the Israeli soldiers in the Shtula settlement.
MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, responded on Sunday to Israeli statements threatening to wage open war on Lebanon, saying: “We know your situation accurately, and we know who you are and we are waiting for you.”
In response to those criticizing the attacks in southern Lebanon in support of the Gaza Strip, Raad said: “When criminals take their crimes too far, they don’t spare anyone. That’s why we should prevent the enemy from looking for another target, so we don’t wind up being the other victims.”
Referring to the kamikaze drones used to strike Israeli targets, Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, a member of Hezbollah’s Central Council, promised further operations that will “surprise and humiliate the enemy.”
He said: “For the first time in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Lebanese planes raid Israeli sites in occupied Palestine.”
Right-wing politician Nigel Farage accused of generalizing about UK Muslims for ‘not sharing British values’
- Honorary president of Reform UK party interviewed by Sky News’ presenter Trevor Phillips
LONDON: Controverisal right-wing figure Nigel Farage was accused on Sunday of generalizing about UK Muslims for “not sharing British values” during an interview on Sky News.
The honorary president of the Reform UK party was being interviewed by the channel’s presenter Trevor Phillips, whom he told there is “a growing number of young people” in the UK who were “on the streets of London every Saturday” and “loathe much of what we stand for.”
When pressed by Phillips on whether he was referring to British Muslims, Farage said: “We are. I am afraid I found some of the recent surveys saying 46 percent of British Muslims support Hamas, support a terrorist organisation that is proscribed in this country.”
He was quoting a Henry Jackson Society poll released in April that reported that only one in four British Muslims believed Hamas members committed murder and rape in Israel on Oct. 7 last year, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage in an attack on the south of the country.
Farage compared British Muslims to people of British-Caribbean origin, who he claimed had a shared herotage with the UK, and asked Phillips — whose parents moved to Britain as part of the Windrush generation from the West Indies — how many people in his community could not speak English.
Phillips replied: “We all speak English,” before adding that many British Muslims also spoke the language.
Farage rejected the claim and said that we had not been appearing on the program to “attack the religion of Islam,” adding that he had not done so. He blamed the issue on the two main British political parties and their immigration policies.
“I’m blaming elements of that community, I’m not blaming them. I’m stating a fact, no one else dares tell the truth about this,” he said.
“On the broader question, the biggest single problem this country faces is the population explosion. And it will not be debated in this election.
“Why? Because Labour started it and the (Conservatives) accelerated it. That has led to a problem on a scale unimaginable. Nobody in history has allowed more people in who are potentially really going to fight against British values than (Prime Minister Rishi) Sunak.”
Pakistan asks Afghanistan to hand over militants involved in Dasu attack on Chinese nationals
- Five Chinese workers were killed in the attack on Mar. 26 while they were on way to Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan’s northwest
- Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi says militants operating in Afghanistan have been specifically compromising security of Chinese nationals
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday demanded the Afghan interim government to hand over Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants involved in a suicide attack that killed five Chinese nationals and their driver in Pakistan’s northwest in March.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan but both separatist and other militants have attacked Chinese projects and personnel in recent years, including five Chinese workers who perished in the suicide attack on Mar. 26 while they were on their way to the Dasu hydropower project in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Dasu hydropower project falls under the ambit of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative through which it has pledged more than $65 billion for road, rail and other infrastructure developments in the South Asian nation of 241 million people.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Naqvi said Pakistan’s relations with China were very important and both countries supported each other economically, politically and diplomatically, however, the cross-border threat from Afghanistan was becoming increasingly dangerous for regional security.
“We want good relations with Afghanistan, but this is only possible if they too support us and won’t let their soil be used for terrorism against us,” he said. “It is important that these terrorists present there, they [Afghan government] must arrest them, hold a trial against them or hand them over to us.”
The Dasu assault in March was the third major one in a little over a week on China’s interests.
It followed a Mar. 20 attack on a strategic port used by China in the southwestern province of Balochistan, where Beijing has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects, and a Mar. 25 assault on a naval air base, also in the southwest. Both attacks were claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of several separatist groups in Balochistan.
Naqvi said militants operating in Afghanistan were specifically compromising the security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan.
“Pakistan has raised this issue with the interim Afghan government and pressed them to rein in these terrorists operating there, but so far we are not receiving any positive results,” he said, adding that Islamabad was making “all-possible arrangements” to ensure the security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.
Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks in its western regions that border Afghanistan, particularly after the TTP called off its months-long, fragile truce with the Pakistani government in November 2022.
Last year, Islamabad ordered all illegal immigrants to leave Pakistan by Nov 1, triggering an exodus of foreigners, mostly Afghans, from the country.
Pakistan brushed off calls from the United Nations (UN), rights groups and Western embassies to reconsider the expulsion plan and said many of these Afghan nationals had been involved in militant attacks and in crimes that undermined the security of the country. Kabul denies the accusations and says Pakistani security is a domestic problem.
Countdown to glory: Riyadh Season’s ‘5 vs. 5’ boxing spectacle set to thrill global audiences
- Russian powerhouse Dmitry Bivol leads the pack as fight world’s biggest names prepare for Kingdom Arena showdown
RIYADH: In a thrilling culmination of Riyadh Season festivities, boxing enthusiasts are eagerly awaiting the “5 vs. 5” global showdown at the Kingdom Arena next Saturday.
Featuring a stellar lineup of top boxers from around the world, the spectacle promises to deliver unparalleled excitement and fierce competition.
Leading the pack is Russian powerhouse Dmitry Bivol, a dominant force in the ring and holder of the World Boxing Association super light-heavyweight title since 2017.
Joining him is British fighter Hamzah Sheeraz, the reigning Commonwealth and WBC Silver middleweight champion, alongside American prodigy Austin Williams, the top-ranked amateur boxer on the US team.
The roster boasts an array of international talent, including Libyan champion Malik Zinad, holder of the WBA Mediterranean continental championship, and Chinese fighter Zhilei Zhang, ranked among the world’s top heavyweights.
Big names such as Deontay Wilder from the US, British pro Daniel Dubois, Filip Hrgovic from Croatia, Willie Hutchinson from Scotland, and British champions Craig Richards and Nick Ball round out the formidable lineup, promising a showcase of skill and athleticism that is sure to captivate audiences worldwide.
The high-profile fight showdown highlights Riyadh Season’s commitment to positioning the Saudi capital as a premier global destination. Drawing spectators from all corners of the globe, it affirms the capital’s growing prominence on the international stage, and reinforces the city’s reputation as a hub for world-class entertainment and sporting excellence.
