China exchange traded funds were set for a lower open in the U.S. on Thursday after soft manufacturing data.
A China purchasing managers’ index from HSBC fell below 50. “We expect industrial growth to decelerate in the coming months as tightening measures continue to filter through,” said Hongbin Qu, China chief economist at HSBC, according to WSJ.com.
The latest PMI reading is a 28-month low, according to Pragmatic Capitalism. “While the world is busy obsessing over the debt crisis in America and Europe there is new evidence that the most important economic region in the world is slowing,” wrote Cullen Roche.
The iShares FTSE China 25 (NYSEArca: FXI) was off 0.6% in Thursday’s premarket.
Another similar option is iShares MSCI Hong Kong (NYSEArca: EWH). The tracking index is different from the often-cited Hang Seng Index, although they are highly correlated, notes Morningstar analyst Patricia Oey. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China along with Macau.
“An investment in EWH is an obvious a play on economic growth in China. However, it is important for investors to understand how this fund is exposed to China,” Oey writes in a profile of the ETF. “First of all, with its holdings in property companies, banks, and utilities, EWH is exposed to macroeconomic trends in Hong Kong, which is now in large part driven by China. Secondly, many Hong Kong firms have operations in China.”
iShares MSCI Hong Kong (NYSEArca: EWH)
Max Chen contributed to this article.