Chinese investors were ready yesterday for what most considered to be inevitable government moves to rein in the economy, after first quarter growth figures showed previous efforts had not been effective.
But questions also emerged if any further measures Beijing could realistically adopt would matter much.
The fact that China reported growth of 11.1 percent in the first quarter -- despite a slew of policies to slow down activity -- was seen as a sign the world's fourth-largest economy is becoming harder to manage.
"There have been three interest rate hikes over the past year and all of them proved to have little impact on the property market," said Joe Zhou, a Shanghai-based analyst with real estate consulting firm Jones Lang LaSalle.
"Developers won't stop construction just because of a small interest rate rise," he said.
Property professionals were not the only ones looking at future government economic moves with an attitude bordering on apathy.
"It's not like we're working overtime or constantly monitoring the central bank's Web site," said Zhang Qi, a Shanghai-based trader with Haitong Securities.
"Even if there's a rate hike, it will be small, and like the others before it, it won't have a big impact on the market," he said.
Reflecting the coolness of the markets, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B-shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, closed up 135.19 points at 3,584.20, after trading between 3,460.90 and 3,591.46. Turnover was 156.13 billion yuan (US$20 billion).
The key index tumbled 4.5 percent on Thursday but rose 1.87 percent for the week.
The yuan ended the day at 7.7170 against the US dollar, down from Thursday's finish of 7.7160.
Thursday's plunge was merely experienced institutionals cashing in on recent gains, to the chagrin of retail investors that had recently entered, said Shen Jun, a trader with Shangzhenglian Investment Consulting in Shanghai.
The institutional investors spotted jitters ahead of the release of the first quarter data and decided it was a good time to sell, but by yesterday it was back to business as usual, he said.
"Even if there is more tightening from the central bank, for example during the Labor Day holiday in early May, it won't have any significant impact on the market as it's already factored in," Shen said.
In stark contrast to the wheeler-dealers in the plush offices of China's financial districts, the state-run media maintained the government could actually do something serious about the economy.
"At this point, it is not hard to say what the government should do," the state-controlled China Daily said in an editorial. "Plenty of observers say that China should slow down the speed of its growth in every category."
But the recent record of Chinese economic policy making might suggest this is easier said than done.
The economy's red-hot performance in the first three months has been fueled by the two factors the government has vowed to place under tighter control -- net exports and investment.
China's trade surplus roughly doubled in the first three months of the year to US$46.4 billion, despite successive moves by Beijing to reduce export tax incentives while making importing easier and more attractive.
In the same period, liquidity-driven investments in fixed assets grew 23.7 percent, in defiance of official steps to rein in the amount of money floating around in the system.
"Another big number proves that China's super-tanker economy is still nowhere near slowing," Stephen Green, a Shanghai-based economist with Standard Chartered Bank, said in a research note.
"To mix our maritime and aerial metaphors, this economy is not landing -- it has refuelled mid-flight and is flying higher again," he said.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained