IN FOCUS6-8 min read

What can investors expect from the Year of the Ox?

As the new Lunar Year begins, we check in on the China outlook.

15/02/2021
yearoftheox1

Authors

Stephen Kam
Head of Product Management, Asia ex-Japan Equities

This year Chinese New Year ushers in the Year of the Ox, which began on Friday.

The Ox is thought to be a symbol of reliability, strength, patience and caution. It is also associated with harvesting, fertility and prosperity.

After a tumultuous 2020, many an investor will welcome financial markets that are reliable, strong and prosperous, even if they have to act with patience and caution.

Could the Year of the Ox be a “bullish” omen?

Economic strength ahead

China was the only major world economy to post positive growth in 2020 thanks to its effective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Strict lockdown measures, widespread testing, a compliant population and vast government stimulus measures appear to have done the trick.

The fourth quarter of last year saw economic growth rise 6.5% year-on-year (y/y), as normalisation continued. This took full-year 2020 growth to 2.3%. By contrast, the US economy shrank by -3.5%, while eurozone economic growth contracted -6.8%.         

Schroders’ economics team forecasts an expansion of 9% in China’s economy in 2021. And the first quarter could see growth climb as high as 15% to 20% y/y. This is due to the lagged impact of stimulus measures, as well as the effect of having a very low base for comparison after the steep economic decline in the first quarter of 2020.

Beyond this, in 2022, the economics team expects China's economy to normalise towards trend growth of around 5.5%.

What could this mean for equities?

Financial markets have been focusing on this economic strength: the Chinese stock market, as measured by the MSCI China Index, was up almost 30% in 2020 and has gained over 15% so far in 2021 (source: Refinitiv, 9 February 2021).

Global investors’ still-light positioning in Chinese equities and reasonable valuations relative to global peers could encourage further inflows to the market in 2021. In particular, the mainland A-share market, should continue to attract greater attention as international investors look to increase their long term allocations to the market.

Investors bought aggressively into ”lockdown winners”, including e-commerce and online gaming, healthcare, cloud computing and technology more broadly – where earnings are benefiting from an accelerating shift in consumption patterns post crisis.

From a sector perspective, we believe those sectors which provide exposure to long-term growth themes in the country will continue to outperform.

Tech hardware is one such industry, as people continue to work from home through 2021.

This is leading to increased demand for tech hardware, including networking power, but there hasn’t been a significant supply response. This mismatch in demand and supply means we think the outlook for profit margins in this space looks healthy.

Overall though, we are cautious about internet/e-commerce companies given high valuations and anti-monopoly regulation that was introduced in November. We think this could cloud things for the sector in the near term.

Elsewhere, we like areas including industrial automation, electric vehicles and components, and supply chain localisation amid international trade frictions.

However, a broad global economic recovery following a successful vaccine development should benefit cyclical sectors, where valuations are still cheap currently compared to growth sectors. These should pick up momentum as vaccination programmes progress, and daily new cases of coronavirus around the world recede, providing confidence in the normalisation trade.

What are the risks?

Since the discovery of Covid-19 vaccines in the final quarter of 2020, hopes for an exit from the pandemic and recovery in economic growth have been building. There is therefore the potential for disappointment, and any change to the positive outlook would likely have implications for global financial markets in general.

Long-term strategic competition with the US is another area to monitor. Trade tensions escalated and expanded into other areas such as technology and capital markets under the Trump administration. We expect US policy to be more predictable under President Biden. But it remains our base case the tensions between the sides will be a drag on investment and global growth in the years ahead.

In response to these rising tensions, China has emphasised greater “self sufficiency” in terms of technology and its increasing effort to support companies in strategic industries. These include aerospace, IT, semiconductors and robotics. We believe that there will be some attractive opportunities for investors as “national champions” begin to emerge.      

This article is issued by Cazenove Capital which is part of the Schroders Group and a trading name of Schroder & Co. Limited, 1 London Wall Place, London EC2Y 5AU. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

Nothing in this document should be deemed to constitute the provision of financial, investment or other professional advice in any way. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of an investment and the income from it may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

This document may include forward-looking statements that are based upon our current opinions, expectations and projections. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements.

All data contained within this document is sourced from Cazenove Capital unless otherwise stated.

Authors

Stephen Kam
Head of Product Management, Asia ex-Japan Equities

Topics

In Focus
Equities
Alpha Equity
Emerging Markets
China
Coronavirus
Asia ex Japan
2021
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