Recent developments in China bring to mind an old saying: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it must be a duck. In this case, the fowl in question is the irrationally exuberant bubble that has been forming in that nation's stock market.
As to whether this duck has been emulating the gait of those that existed during Tulipmania, the South Sea Bubble, or the dot-com era, there is probably no better illustration than the graph I posted two weeks ago in "Scurrying Over the Edge of a Cliff."
When it comes to the noises that this creature has been making, today's eye-opening report from Reuters, "Two China Stock Funds Raise $2.3 bln in One Day," just about says -- quacks? -- it all.
Two Chinese mutual fund companies raised a combined 18 billion yuan ($2.33 billion) in a single day from the launch of two equity funds, tapping an investor frenzy to buy into China's red-hot stock market.
Phone banking systems also crashed at several Shanghai banks on Monday morning due to heavy demand from users who scrambled to transfer deposits to their stock accounts, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Tuesday.
Shanghai-based Hua An Fund Management Co. Ltd. said in a statement on Tuesday that it raised 10 billion yuan for a small-cap stock fund on Monday, which was converted from a closed-end fund.
The fund attracted more than 30 billion yuan in subscriptions on the first day of its launch, forcing Hua An to close off sales of the product which had a 10 billion yuan maximum, the Shanghai Securities News said.
Also on Monday, Lord Abbett China Asset Management Co. Ltd., which is 49 percent-owned by U.S. fund management company Lord Abbett & Co., raked in 8 billion yuan for a stock fund, the Chinese company said in a statement.
Demand for the Lord Abbett China fund totalled more than 15 billion yuan, the Shanghai Securities News said.
Chinese mutual funds, which manage around 1 trillion yuan in assets compared with virtually nothing just a few years ago, are jostling to launch new funds as investors pile into the surging domestic stock market.
The benchmark Shanghai composite index has tripled since the start of last year, driven by a series of structural reforms.
On Tuesday, the index finished 0.43 percent higher at a record closing high of 3,611.870, with turnover in the Shanghai A share market swelling to a record 175 billion yuan. Turnover in Shenzhen's A share market rose to 98.8 billion yuan.
Domestic media have also reported an increase in complaints from stock investors against securities firms' computer trading systems that were unable to handle the surge in transactions.
Many mutual funds delivered hefty returns last year, spurring strong buying interest from Chinese investors.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Chinese fund management venture said last week it had received nearly 90 billion yuan in subscriptions to its new equities fund in a single day -- more than 10 times its original sales target.
Time to...duck?
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