Foreigners Pull Money At Quickest Weekly Rate Since March

Note that last week saw the largest level of weekly net outflows from mainland Chinese equities via the Hong-Kong-China Stock Connect schemes since March (~CNY22bn).

• This came at a time when worry surrounding the Chinese property sector intensified (with the choice of some mortgage holders to withhold payment on incomplete property developments getting plenty of airtime in the international press), fresh regulatory worry emerged and with COVID-related localised lockdown fears still bubbling in the background.
• Re: the first point, note that a CBIRC official has told the local press that the body is keeping a keen eye on this issue and has strengthened coordination with the PBoC, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other government departments to support local efforts to guarantee home deliveries and ensure people's livelihoods and stability. The official also revealed that banks have been asked to effectively satisfy developers' reasonable financing needs and vigorously support rental housing, as well as project mergers and reorganisations
• Policymakers have stressed that they will do more to support the economy, with the most notable comments coming from PBoC Governor Yi, as he noted that the central bank will step up the implementation of its prudent monetary policy to provide stronger support for the economy. This came after Chinese Q2 GDP data provided a downside surprise, even as retail sales topped exp. in June, alongside an expected bounceback in industrial production.