Nvidia & TSMC are the leaders of AI chips.

China EV BYD, Hyper, XPENG, Plus, Nuro, Waabi and WeRide Adopt DRIVE Thor not China chips. Lol.

Stocks slide as China's NPC underwhelms

Most Asian stocks slid on Tuesday, led by sharp declines in Hong Kong as the start of China's week-long annual session of parliament disappointed investors with its lack of big ticket stimulus plans to prop up the struggling economy.

Asian stocks dip, Hang Seng tumbles as China outlook fails to impress

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks fell on Tuesday as investors collected recent profits in the technology sector, while China’s economic outlook and plans for the year spurred little improvement in sentiment towards the country.

Regional markets tracked overnight losses in Wall Street, as record-high valuations and anticipation of more signals on U.S. interest rates also spurred a bout of profit-taking. U.S. futures fell slightly in Asian trade.

Chinese stocks muted, Hang Seng plummets as 2024 targets underwhelm
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and and Shanghai Composite moved in a flat-to-low range on Tuesday, while steep losses in mainland stocks dragged Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down 2.5%.

Sentiment towards China worsened after Beijing set a 2024 gross domestic product target of 5%, the same as 2023. But with a lower target for fiscal spending, investors questioned just how China planned to shore up growth to meet its GDP target.

The targets were unveiled during the 2024 National People’s Congress, where the government also promised more measures to increase consumer spending and confidence. But they signaled little change from Beijing’s earlier assurances of policy support, which had so far done little to support the economy.

Separately, private PMI data pointed to slowing growth in China’s key services sector, which bodes poorly for the economy.

Concerns over China spilled over into broader Asian markets, particularly those with high trade exposure to the country. Australia’s ASX 200 relinquished early gains to trade 0.2% lower, despite strong current account data that heralded a positive GDP reading on Wednesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 breaches 40,000 on tech strength, positive data

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged past a key level in early trade on Monday, extending a technology-driven rally, while positive economic readings also helped improve sentiment towards the economy and over the Bank of Japan.

The Nikkei 225 rose as much as 0.8% to a record high of 40,308.0 points, crossing the 40,000 level for the first time in its history.

Technology stocks remained the biggest boosts to the index, with chipmaking and chip-adjacent stocks clocking sustained gains on persistent hype that artificial intelligence will drive a demand boom in the coming months.

Chip testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857) jumped 3.7% and was close to a record high, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035) hit a three-year high. SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) also traded near a three-year peak.

A tech-fueled rally on Wall Street provided a positive lead-in to Japanese shares, especially as the tech-heavy IXIC closed at a record high on Friday.

Japanese economy seen resilient, inflation set to ease
Key economic readings released on Monday also painted a positive picture for Japanese markets.

Japanese capital spending rose a substantially bigger-than-expected 16.4% in the fourth quarter, defying an unexpected slowdown in economic growth as business spending remained resilient.

Other data showed Japan’s monetary base- a key indicator of inflationary trends- unexpectedly slid to a six-month low in February. The reading, which comes amid a broader cooling in Japanese inflation, gives the BOJ little impetus to aggressively tighten monetary policy.

While the central bank is still expected to raise interest rates from ultra-low levels by as soon as April, it is still likely to keep monetary conditions largely loose, presenting a positive environment for Japanese stocks.

Posted by Jefftan123 > 33 seconds ago | Report Abuse

World’s largest chipmaker TSMC to build a second factory in Japan

the future of technology are those with strong and solid alliances.

qqq is a joker. go understand Sora AI and Tesla FSD. Lol.

Tesla Dojo is a supercomputer designed and built by Tesla for computer vision video processing and recognition. It will be used for training Tesla's machine learning models to improve its Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver-assistance system. According to Tesla, it went into production in July 2023.

Tesla is going to another level FSD by adopting Nvidia chips, just wait and see.

One year angpow from US, Japan, Taiwan stocks markets. Lol.

NEW YORK: Strong corporate results have helped fuel the S&P 500’s climb to new highs this year, taking the focus away from the Federal Reserve’s tortuous path towards lower interest rates. As earnings season winds down, some investors believe monetary policy will jump back in the driver's seat.

Nvidia Corp's blockbuster earnings results put an exclamation point on the fourth-quarter reporting period, as the AI darling's surging shares propelled the S&P 500 to fresh record highs in the past week. The benchmark index has gained over 6.7% so far this year.

If Balian de Ibelin could short the Nvidia sky high share price to US 100, you could be richer than Jetson Huang. Lol

Posted by Balian de Ibelin > 3 hours ago | Report Abuse

Its getting wobbly. Very extremely wobbly. 😁

You don't understand the nature business and capability of Nvidia. Kindly short the counter for me to buy cheaper. Lol.

Chipmakers and chip-adjacent stocks were among the top performers on the Nikkei. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857)- which is also an Nvidia supplier- rose 4.2%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035)- Japan’s most valuable chipmaker- rose 3.4%. Chipmaker Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO:7735) was the top gainer on the Nikkei with a 7.8% surge.

AI bring Japan to another level. CCP get nothing.

Japan is coming up. Silly Xi keep on saying East rise West down, he is right Japan is the east of CCP. Lol.

Communism is the rubbish from Western got nothing to do with Chinese.

Japan’s Nikkei index hits record high as tech rallies on AI hype

Investing.com-- Japan’s Nikkei 225 index hit an intraday record high on Thursday, buoyed chiefly by gains in the technology sector as hype over artificial intelligence spurred a rally in major chip stocks.

The Nikkei 225 jumped 1.8% to a record intraday high of 39,001.50 points, crossing a peak last seen in 1989, before the unwinding of a massive speculative bubble in Japan.

The broader TOPIX index rose 1% and was also in sight of a record high.

Gains on the Nikkei were driven chiefly by heavyweight technology stocks, as consensus-beating fourth-quarter earnings from AI darling NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) drummed up hype over an AI-led boost for the sector in the coming months.

Chipmakers and chip-adjacent stocks were among the top performers on the Nikkei. Advantest Corp. (TYO:6857)- which is also an Nvidia supplier- rose 4.2%, while Tokyo Electron Ltd. (TYO:8035)- Japan’s most valuable chipmaker- rose 3.4%. Chipmaker Dainippon Screen Mfg. Co., Ltd. (TYO:7735) was the top gainer on the Nikkei with a 7.8% surge.

It is too late for CCP.

Posted by Jefftan123 > 1 hour ago | Report Abuse

TSEC weighted index 18,676.31 VS HANG SENG INDEX 16,503.10. The difference is larger and larger. Lol.

Taiwan's AI chips and hardwares leading the index. White elephants projects, real estate bubbles leading the China stocks. Lol.

Posted by IDQWE001 > 1 week ago | Report Abuse

I mentioned Nvidia last year in this blog 6 months ago, the share price about only USD 400. Silly fool qqq still want to argue with me. 🤣🤣

Silly fool qqq.

I mentioned Nvidia last year in this blog 6 months ago, the share price about only USD 400. Silly fool qqq still want to argue with me. 🤣🤣

Nvidia hits record high as Goldman Sachs boosts PT on AI prospects

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Nvidia's shares (NVDA.O), opens new tab scaled a new peak on Monday after Goldman Sachs raised its price target for the high-flying chipmaker's stock in anticipation of a major boost to its earnings from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom.
The stock rose about 4% to $689.21 and looked set to add about $70 billion to the company's market capitalization. Nvidia was valued at $1.63 trillion as of Friday's close.
Nvidia has emerged as a poster child of the AI frenzy and saw a record monthly jump in its market value in January.

U.S. sanctions on chipmaker SMIC hit at the very heart of China’s tech ambitions.

US bill targeting Chinese biotech firms WuXi AppTec, BGI hits delay

A bill in the U.S. Congress that sparked a sell-off in shares of China's WuXi AppTec hit a delay in the Senate this week, a Senate aide and three other sources said on Friday.

The bill would prohibit federal agencies from contracting with China's BGI Group, MGI, Complete Genomics, WuXi AppTec, their subsidiaries and other biotechnology companies of concern. It would also stop the government from entering into contracts with companies that use their equipment or services.

It sent shares of Wuxi AppTec tumbling 21% overnight.

The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Gary Peters, did not move out of committee this week, as expected. It will be considered at a future date, said a majority aide for the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which Peters chairs.

The bill is not expected to move out of committee for at least a few weeks, said another congressional aide.

A companion bill proposed by Republican Congressman Mike Gallagher, chair of the House select committee on China, accuses the companies of aiding Beijing's military.

No date has yet been set to move the House bill out of committee, that congressional aide said.

The Chinese biotech companies pose a threat to how sensitive American data and personal health information can be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party, the Senate aide said on Friday.

Shares of WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics (HK:2269) tumbled on Friday as investor fears grew over the draft legislation targeting the China biotech giants.

WuXi AppTec, which provides drug R&D and manufacturing services, has denied any ties to China's military and said its business does not pose national security risks to any country.

WuXi AppTec said last week that company-related content in proposed U.S. legislation on biosecurity is not appropriate or accurate. The company is "closely watching" the development of the bill, it said in a filing to Shanghai bourse.

BGI Group said last week that it supports protecting personal data, but the legislation "which will effectively drive BGI from the U.S. market will not accomplish this goal." The company added that in the U.S. it does not collect patient samples or have access to personal or genetic data.

Units of BGI Group appear on a U.S. Department of Commerce export control list over allegations that they pose a "significant risk" to contributing to Chinese government surveillance.

Reuters also has reported that BGI was collecting genetic data from millions of women for sweeping research on the traits of populations, and collaborates with China's military.

Hong Kong
CNN
—
Chinese shares haven’t just had a bad start to 2024. It’s been rough going since February 2021, when they hit their most recent peak.

Over the past three years, about $6 trillion — equivalent to roughly twice Britain’s annual economic output — has been wiped off the value of Chinese and Hong Kong stocks.

The Hang Seng index has crashed 10% so far this year alone, while the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indexes are down 7% and 10% respectively.

The astonishing losses, reminiscent of the last Chinese stock market crash of 2015-2016, highlight a crisis of confidence among investors concerned about the country’s future.

“The past three years were no doubt a challenging and frustrating period for investors and market participants in Chinese equities,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. “China … [is] currently trading at suppressed valuations and decade-low allocations across [investment] fund mandates.”

The world’s second largest economy is plagued by a myriad of problems. They include a record downturn in real estate, deflation, debt, a falling birthrate and shrinking work force, as well as a shift towards ideology-driven policies that has rattled the private sector and scared away foreign firms.

The stock meltdown has made Chinese markets the world’s worst performers so far this year. All this is playing out against the backdrop of a global stock market rally, led by Wall Street’s record-setting run, and by Japan in Asia.

There are signs the Chinese government is beginning to worry. Reuters reported this week that Beijing asked banks to sell dollars to prop up the yuan, and Bloomberg said Tuesday that the government was preparing to intervene directly to support stocks.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday ordered officials to take “forceful and effective measures” to stabilize the markets. But can investors’ confidence be restored?

"The tension between the U.S. and China seems not dissipating," said Saxo's chief China strategist, Redmond Wong.

Investors are also growing impatient at the lack of big-ticket stimulus to shore up demand and confidence, Wong said.

Still, China pain and renewed U.S. regional bank worries, failed to put a significant dent in world stock markets with investors taking comfort from upbeat earnings.

SYDNEY/LONDON (Reuters) -China shares fell to new five-year lows on Friday and posted their worst weekly drop in five years, while bumper earnings at Amazon and Meta helped buoy world stocks ahead of key U.S. jobs data later in the day.

The Shanghai Composite closed 1.5% lower with investors disappointed by cautious and piecemeal government stimulus measures to shore up the shaky economy.

For the week, the index sank 6.2%, its largest such loss since October 2018. The blue-chip CSI300 hit a five-year low, while shares in drug research and development group WuXi AppTec slid 20% in Hong Kong after its mention in a U.S. bill aimed at restricting access to Americans' genetic data revived geopolitical concerns.

BEIJING: China's manufacturing activity contracted for the fourth straight month in January, an official factory survey showed on Wednesday, suggesting the sprawling sector and the broader economy were struggling to regain momentum at the start of 2024.

The official purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 49.2 in January from 49.0 in December, driven by a rise in output but still below the 50-mark separating growth from contraction. It was in line with a median forecast of 49.2 in a Reuters poll.

The data provides the first official snapshot of how the world's No.2 economy has started off the new year after a shakier-than-expected post-COVID recovery.

https://youtu.be/3BT_BbuDCj0?si=bWxNRhMYHUSVQCuL

China’s Fake 5.2% GDP Growth Claim by CCP, Actual Data Points to a Decrease

only silly fool like u invested in China and HK stocks losing money. Others reached new high. Lol.

How are people reacting?
The stock market rout has triggered public anger on Chinese social media, where many people have called on regulators to take effective measures to stem the decline.

More than 220 million individuals are invested in China’s stock markets, according to official figures, and those people account for 99% of the total investor base.

Topics related to the “market plunge” and “China’s stock market rescue” were trending on Weibo on Tuesday.

Even prominent influencers who normally spout the official line urged Beijing to take immediate action to rescue small investors.

“I’m sad about today’s stock market performance,” Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief for state newspaper Global Times, posted on Weibo on Monday.

“The impact of the stock market’s continuous decline has gone beyond the capital market, and has a negative impact on confidence in the entire economy and comprehensive social confidence. I personally believe that this is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed to prevent financial risks and boost social confidence.“

Hu said he had suffered a total loss of more than 70,000 yuan ($9,857) since he started investing in the stock market last June.

What is Beijing doing about the crash?
Premier Li, who chaired a cabinet meeting Monday, has vowed to take action to boost the stock market and improve liquidity, according to a read-out published by Xinhua. It didn’t elaborate on what the measures will be.

But on the same day, major state-owned banks moved to support the Chinese yuan, in order to prevent the currency from falling too fast as Chinese shares plunged, according to a Reuters report, citing unnamed sources.

A Tuesday Bloomberg report said Chinese authorities are considering intervening more directly by mobilizing some 2 trillion yuan ($282 billion) as part of a stock market stabilization fund, mainly by using the offshore accounts of Chinese state-owned enterprises.

The fund would buy mainland China-listed shares through the Hong Kong stock exchange. The authorities have also earmarked at least 300 billion yuan ($42 billion) of local funds to invest in mainland Chinese shares, Bloomberg reported.

“If the rumour proves to be true, the asset purchase program could generate a significant size of [yuan] purchase flow,” said Ken Cheung, chief Asian FX strategist for Mizuho Bank.

He also believes the PBOC’s decided not to cut interest rates to prevent the yuan from depreciating further.

The Bloomberg report was enough to arrest further declines on Tuesday, with Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index closing 2.6% higher and the Shanghai Composite up 0.5%.

Chinese stocks have suffered heavy losses over the past year
The value of China's benchmark CSI 300 index has fallen 23% over the past 12 months, and notched its worst start to a year since 2016 after Beijing dashed investors' hopes that it might do more to support the country's struggling economy.

Investors are also concerned about existential questions bedeviling China’s future.

“China’s commitment to reform has been called into question,” they said, adding that the concerns were prompted by Beijing’s crackdown on Big Tech, its emphasis on national security, and the increasing dominance of the state sector in key industries. “These policy uncertainties have discouraged the investment appetite.”

In addition, US-China tensions have forced US investors to “meaningfully” reduce their exposures to and ownership in Chinese equities, the analysts said.

What else is going on?
Over the past year, Beijing has rolled out only piecemeal policies to drive economic recovery. But that is not enough, according to Goldman Sachs analysts.

“Conventional macro policy easing has so far fallen short of investor expectation,” they said. “A shift in the piecemeal easing playbook to a more aggressive, big-bang approach may be needed to overturn the negative narrative in the market.”

In particular, an “effective government backstop” to prop-up failing property developers and to stimulate demand for housing is needed to resolve the current real estate crisis, which is at the heart of many of China’s economic problems, they added.

While that may seem reasonable for a major economy, it is far below China’s double-digit growth of the past decades. The country may be staring at decades of stagnation to come, analysts have said, as the slowdown is structural in nature and won’t be easily reversed.

“There has been increasing confusion over the Beijing’s policy stance on the economy,” said Nomura analysts in a research note late Monday.

“The (central bank) did not deliver a much expected cut of its benchmark lending rates last week. Top officials’ comments suggest Beijing is reluctant to seek short-term growth at the cost of increasing long-term risks,” they added.

Last week, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) kept its medium-term lending facility rate steady, contrary to market expectations that it would make its first cut since August. On Monday, the central bank also kept its Loan Prime Rate — a key interest rate that influences mortgages — unchanged, further dashing hopes for a cut.

What’s driving the meltdown?
In short, investors are worried about the lack of effective policies from Beijing to spark a sustainable economic recovery.

China’s economy grew 5.2% in 2023. That was its slowest pace of expansion since 1990, with the exception of the three pandemic years through 2022. International economists widely expect the country’s growth to slow further this year to around 4.5% and drop below 4% in the medium term.

The stock meltdown has made Chinese markets the world’s worst performers so far this year. All this is playing out against the backdrop of a global stock market rally, led by Wall Street’s record-setting run, and by Japan in Asia.

There are signs the Chinese government is beginning to worry. Reuters reported this week that Beijing asked banks to sell dollars to prop up the yuan, and Bloomberg said Tuesday that the government was preparing to intervene directly to support stocks.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Monday ordered officials to take “forceful and effective measures” to stabilize the markets. But can investors’ confidence be restored?

Chinese stocks have lost $6 trillion in 3 years. Here’s what you need to know

Hong Kong
CNN
—
Chinese shares haven’t just had a bad start to 2024. It’s been rough going since February 2021, when they hit their most recent peak.

Over the past three years, about $6 trillion — equivalent to roughly twice Britain’s annual economic output — has been wiped off the value of Chinese and Hong Kong stocks.

The Hang Seng index has crashed 10% so far this year alone, while the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Component indexes are down 7% and 10% respectively.

The astonishing losses, reminiscent of the last Chinese stock market crash of 2015-2016, highlight a crisis of confidence among investors concerned about the country’s future.

“The past three years were no doubt a challenging and frustrating period for investors and market participants in Chinese equities,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a research note Tuesday. “China … [is] currently trading at suppressed valuations and decade-low allocations across [investment] fund mandates.”

The world’s second largest economy is plagued by a myriad of problems. They include a record downturn in real estate, deflation, debt, a falling birthrate and shrinking work force, as well as a shift towards ideology-driven policies that has rattled the private sector and scared away foreign firms.

NORMAN VILLAMIN, GROUP CHIEF STRATEGIST, UBP:

"We sold China in October. We had hoped that there was going to be more cyclical stimulus coming through. When it became clear that wasn't going to happen, the conclusion was that China was ready to embark on the restructuring of its property sector which meant that it would be kind of a fairly prolonged process.

"Over the last 30 years, the story of China has been China is growing fast, China is becoming the manufacturing centre of the world - so you should just own China because the economy is doing very well. Now, the story of China is there are some sectors that are going to have a very hard time. So you need to be more selective in terms of the companies that you buy."

PIERRE HOEBRECHTS, HEAD OF MACRO RESEARCH, EAST EAGLE ASSET MANAGEMENT:

"We have been conservatively positioned since last March on the premise that the Chinese household would be reluctant to invest ... in light of their high savings rate and the real estate market adjustment.

"As fundamental news has not been strong enough and the market is finally waking up to the fact that the government will manage the economy for the long term as stated by Premier Li Qiang at Davos and not focus on short-term market movements, investors' interest has disappeared."

MARKO PAPIC, CHIEF STRATEGIST, CLOCKTOWER GROUP:

"Our argument is that at the financial work conference, which happened last week, policymakers came away with a renewed focus on financial sector regulation and the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, refocusing it towards the financial sector.

"From a Chinese investor's perspective, the reason that this matters is twofold: First of all, it's another major sector that's going to be inspected with a heavy-handed regulatory approach. And the second issue is that you need the financial sector when the private sector is de-leveraging. You need banks to want to lend ... more so than any other time.

"As a Chinese investor you (also) sit there and you're like, wait a minute, if (the central bank is) not willing to cut 25 basis points we're really far from any sort of a bazooka ... they're not even willing to fire a water pistol."

What investors are saying about China's market meltdown

(Reuters) -Stock markets in China and Hong Kong have slumped to multi-year lows this week as confidence in the world's second-biggest economy has evaporated and foreign money has fled, while data showed sputtering growth and deepening real estate malaise.

Here is what investors and market strategists have said about the selloff:

DERRICK IRWIN, EMERGING MARKETS PORTFOLIO MANAGER, ALLSPRING:

"Investors looking out into 2024 and anyone who would hope that the Chinese government would come riding to the rescue is re-evaluating that right now.

"Until there is a bigger crisis, the Chinese government may just continue to kind of throw cups of water on the fire instead of something big that they probably need to do.

"There is a degree of capitulation ... at this stage, markets are not being driven necessarily by spreadsheets and calculations, but more on emotion and maybe technical issues."

TAIPEI: Taipei-listed shares of Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC soared on Friday after the company gave a bullish outlook for the year on the back of the boom in artificial intelligence (AI), cheering tech stocks at home and abroad.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple Inc and Nvidia supplier, on Thursday projected more than 20% growth in 2024 revenue on booming demand for high-end chips used in AI.

TSMC's shares rose as much as 6% on Friday in Taipei, after its' U.S. listed stocks closed up almost 10% overnight, with the S&P 500 approaching record highs as AI optimism drove gains in Nvidia and other chipmakers.

China’s total debt rises to over 300 per cent of GDP as Beijing loosens borrowing curbs to boost growth
-The figure has risen to over US$40 trillion, some 15 per cent of overall global debt, according to data released by the Institute of International Finance
-China has eased its deleveraging campaign in a bid to aid the slowing economy amid the trade war with the United States

China not following Japan, it is following North Korea.😀😀

Shares of state-owned banks and energy giants were not immune to the broad decline, with Bank of China and PetroChina down 2.7% and 3.2%, respectively.

Meanwhile, two of the few bright spots in the market were new energy and artificial intelligence shares, up 0.9% and 0.5%, respectively.

In Hong Kong, the market seems to be recovering from Wednesday's turmoil, with Hang Seng Index up 0.6%.

Technology shares added 0.5%, with Meituan and Alibaba up 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively.

Foreign capital recorded net selling of 519 million yuan ($72.13 million) via northbound trading link by the lunch break, after logging the largest net sell in more than a year on Wednesday.

Several ETFs linked to China's main indexes including E Fund CSI300 Index ETF saw trading volume and turnover surge for the past two days.

"The national team tried to buy ETFs tracking CSI300, where turnover notably spiked, but the market-wide selloff pressure persists," UBS analysts said in a note ahead of the market open on Thursday.

SINGAPORE: Asian shares struggled to make headway on Thursday, weighed down by a murky economic outlook in China and expectations the global rate easing cycle may not come as early as some had initially thought.

Chinese stocks plumbed multi-year lows as the dour mood over China's shaky economic recovery extended into a second day, while an escalation of geopolitical tensions also kept markets on edge.

China stocks extended the decline on Thursday, down to their lowest level in nearly five years, as China's patchy economic recovery and the prospect of limited stimulus kept investors away from riskier assets.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.6%, its lowest level since early 2019, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.6% by midday. Hong Kong shares stabilised from Wednesday's sell-off.

"Big rate cuts or quantitative easing were unlikely and authorities should rely more on fiscal policy to boost the economy," UBS chief China economist Tao Wang said in an investor call on Thursday.

Investors have been expecting further policy easing to help revive the economy, but China's central bank had surprised some market participants by holding a key policy rate steady on Monday.

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 sank 0.8% on Thursday and was at its weakest level in nearly five years, while the Shanghai Composite slid 1.3% to a near four-year low. Losses in mainland stocks kept Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index trading at its worst level since late-2022.

Thursday’s losses marked a worsening rout in Chinese markets after data in the prior session showed Asia’s largest economy grew less than expected in the fourth quarter.

Slowing consumer spending, a property market meltdown and limited government support were the key headwinds faced by the Chinese economy through 2023. While Beijing consistently rolled out liquidity measures to boost spending, a lack of targeted, fiscal measures inspired little confidence.

The government had in October outlined a massive 1 trillion yuan bond issuance to spur infrastructure spending. But any more debt issuances are expected to be limited, given that the country is also grappling with overheated debt levels.

GDP grew 1% quarter-on-quarter, as expected, but slowed from the prior quarter’s reading of 1.3%.

This brought the overall GDP for 2023 to 5.2%, slightly above Beijing’s 5% forecast. While growth picked up sharply from the dismal 3% seen in 2022, the stronger figure was also driven by a lower base for comparison, given that country was still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic until early-2023.

Wednesday’s figures indicated that the world’s second-largest economy was still struggling to stage a more pronounced recovery from three years of lockdowns, as a post-COVID rebound largely failed to materialize in 2023.

China’s economy grew slightly less than expected in the fourth quarter amid consistent pressure from weak spending and a property market decline, although growth for 2023 managed to just edge past government targets.

Gross domestic product grew 5.2% year-on-year in the three months to December 31, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday. The reading was weaker than expectations for growth of 5.3%, but picked up from the 4.9% seen in the prior quarter.

The problem not difference 0.1% growth, the real problem was the market never trust CCP GDP figure.🤣🤣

US House passes finance bills bolstering Taiwan, squeezing mainland China ahead of island’s presidential election
-One supports including Taipei in IMF while another directs regulators to exclude Beijing from banking organisations over threats to self-ruled island。