ETFs that track Chinese markets are among the best performers this year, especially those that lean toward the growth-heavy technology sector that has enjoyed a strong rally this year.
“Global capital is gushing into China,” Ma Xixun, executive director at asset manger PinPoint, told Reuters. “Foreign investors are realizing that being consistently bearish on China is not good for their fund performance.”
For instance, the WisdomTree China Ex State Owned Enterprises Fund (NasdaqGM: CXSE) jumped 73.7% year-to-date. CXSE tracks companies that are not state-owned enterprises, which means that it does not hold some of the large Chinese banks that make up a sizeable portion of the overall Chinese market capitalization. Consequently, information technology accounts for 34.6% of the fund’s portfolio, followed by consumer discretionary 22.5%.
The large tilts toward tech and consumer discretionary also means that CXSE has strengthened on the rally in the quickly rising e-commerce or online retail segment, capitalizing on the country’s growing middle-income demographic and ongoing economic shift toward domestic consumption.
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Along with the broader CXSE play, more sector-focused China ETFs also rallied this year. For instance, the Guggenheim China Technology ETF (NYSEArca: CQQQ) gained 70.4% so far this year while the Kraneshares CSI China Internet ETF (NYSEArca: KWEB) is up 63.96%. Both funds include e-commerce giants like Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, Netease, 58.xom, Weibo, JD.com and Sina, among others.
Additionally, the Global X China Materials ETF (NYSEArca: CHIM) also made it among the top ten performers of the year, rising 61.1% year-to-date. The materials ETF is enjoying a recovery as inefficient and illegal production in the nation shuts down, providing underlying companies in the fund healthier profit margins and more breathing room to expand output. Furthermore, the ETF may also benefit from China’s ambitious infrastructure plans with the government embarking on a multi-billion dollar One Belt, One Road program to connect the old Silk Road.
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