BEIJING: For years, investors in China’s stock market took comfort in an unseen backstop: the so-called national team, quietly deploying vast firepower to cushion selloffs and stabilise prices.
The script flipped last week. Record outflows from exchange-traded funds (ETFs)held by Central Huijin Investment, a sovereign wealth fund, sent the clearest signal yet that Beijing is no longer simply propping up the market but actively reining in the rally – a sharp break from past rescue playbooks.
While many investors see the selling as an effort to drain speculative excess from pockets of the technology sector rather than cool the broader market, the national team’s shift from one-way support to two-way trading is already changing behaviour.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates Central Huijin sold US$67.5bil across 14 ETFs in just six sessions through Thursday. — Bloomberg
