Slack Chinese economic data is prompting some traders to make bearish options on a major U.S.-listed A-shares exchange traded fund and those traders are paying the price Monday.
Shares of the Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF (NYSEArca: ASHR) is up 4% Monday and trading within pennies of its all-time reached in January, making it one of the day’s top-performing non-leveraged ETFs.
ASHR’s rally comes as traders have loaded up on put options that will increase in value if the ETF declines. Recent put buying on ASHR “pushed the ratio of bearish to bullish contracts to a five-month high on March 11 as investors pulled $34 million from the fund in a second week of outflows,” reports Belinda Cao for Bloomberg.
Put volume on ASHR “jumped fourfold to an all-time high of 44,770 contracts last week from a January low. The open interest on options to buy the ETF, or calls, increased 45 percent during the period to 52,670,” according to Bloomberg.
Bearish options activity on ASHR was spotted in late February as well, but since Feb. 25, ASHR has surged 7.4%. Over the same period, the iShares China Large-Cap ETF (NYSEArca: FXI), the largest U.S.-listed China ETF, has fallen 2.4%. [Bearish Bets Rise on A-Shares ETF]
Recent Chinese economic data has fueled bearish trades on ASHR. China’s industrial output grew 6.8% through the first two months of this year, the weakest pace of expansion in over six years. Retail sales rose 10.7%, well below the 11.7% climb economists expected.
“Fixed-asset investment, a crucial driver of the Chinese economy, rose 13.9 percent, the weakest expansion since 2001 and compared with estimates for a 15 percent gain,” Reuters reported.
Tepid economic data has some market observers betting on more interest rate cuts from the People’s Bank of China. The PBOC has lowered rates twice in the past four months, joining more than 20 global central banks in paring borrowing costs.
Still, investors’ appetite for A-shares ETFs remains robust. ASHR has added $58.4 million in new assets this year compared to outflows of $195 million from FXI. ASHR has over $1 billion in assets, making it the third-largest U.S.-listed China ETF.
Last week, the CSOP FTSE China A50 ETF (NYSEArca: AFTY) debuted and the listing recorded the largest initial capital investment of more than $237 million in assets and 13.96 million shares, the largest initial investment among all U.S.-listed equity ETFs since 2007, according to CSOP. [Another A-Shares ETF Debuts]
AFTY is up 3.7% today helping it join ASHR among the day’s best-performing ETFs.
Deutsche X-trackers Harvest CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF
