Beijing’s central business district Photo: VCG
China’s financial markets are attracting international investors amid growing global economic uncertainty, with multiple foreign financial institutions including Neuberger Berman and DBS Bank maintaining an overweight position on China.
“We are maintaining an overweight stance on China,” said Raheel Siddiqui, senior analyst of global equity research at New York-based Neuberger Berman Group, citing relatively low investor positioning in Chinese equities and the relatively high potential for positive economic and earnings surprises.
Siddiqui noted that China’s top tech firms are emerging as global contenders to the US Magnificent 7 as the country aims to boost innovation in critical areas such as artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, according to a note sent to the Global Times on Sunday.
As the Chinese housing market has regained some footing and policymakers seek to fortify the social safety net, we believe consumers may have an incentive to spend more and save less, driving retail sales growth and broadening China’s equity rally beyond the tech sector, the analyst said.
In addition, Hou Wey Fook, chief investment officer of Singapore-based DBS Bank, said on April 9 that the bank’s analysts maintain an overweight recommendation on Asia ex-Japan stocks amid China’s tech revival.
In China, DeepSeek’s technological breakthroughs are driving new potential, according to Hou, while advising investment opportunities in the China technology and consumer discretionary sectors on rising demand for AI-embedded devices.
Showcasing the steady performance and resilience of the Chinese economy, GDP grew by 5.4 percent year-on-year to 31.88 trillion yuan ($4.42 trillion) in the first quarter of 2025, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.
Hu Yifan, chief investment officer and macroeconomic director of Asia Pacific at UBS Wealth Management, said that China’s first-quarter economic data beat expectations, while noting that policymakers may announce forceful support policies sometime later this year.
“US tariffs on its trade partners, including China, didn’t change foreign capital’s view on China’s A-share and H-share markets, which continue to see capital inflows,” Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times.
On the one hand, the Chinese central government has implemented policies to drive domestic demand and bolster economic growth, while on the other hand, China still has a leading edge in technological innovation, Yang said.
Foreign investors’ holdings of China’s domestic bonds increased by more than 270 billion yuan on a net basis as of April 15 compared with the end of last year, with the total amount hitting 4.5 trillion yuan, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday, citing data from the People’s Bank of China (PBC), the central bank.
China’s bond market has reached a scale of 183 trillion yuan, ranking second in the world. The stable opening-up of China’s bond market is attracting the active participation of international institutional investors, per Xinhua.
In January, the PBC and several other departments jointly issued a guideline to allow foreign financial institutions to offer the same new financial services as domestic players, as part of the 20 measures it introduced to promote institutional financial opening-up in eligible free trade zones.
Recently, multiple foreign financial institutions have taken steps to expand their business in China. The Shanghai Reinsurance Operations Center of AXA International Reinsurance (Shanghai) Co obtained approval to conduct business in China, according to the Shanghai government website. Moreover, UBS announced in late March that the China Securities Regulatory Commission had accepted the firm’s filing to become the sole shareholder of UBS Securities Co.
With the continuous advancement of high-level financial opening-up, more overseas enterprises will be attracted to invest in the Chinese market, and an increasing number of foreign financial institutions will expand their business operations in China, thereby driving greater foreign capital inflows, Yang said.
