2014 Preview: Financial and equity market

Highlights

Private equity and venture capital firms will have to conduct their business differently in China in 2014, after regulators overhauled initial public offering rules. [More]

Stocks expected to back to life

Last year, markets were mostly stagnant. The gates were shut for domestic initial public offerings as the process of going public was reformed. [More]

Stock market keywords in 2013

The China Securities Regulatory Commission released a plan in November to overhaul the nation's IPO system. The reform was long awaited, as new IPOs have been halted by the CSRC for 14 months. [More]

Monetary Policies

Gyrating rates to be new normal in nation's market

Traders sighed with relief on Tuesday, after cash rates in China's money market eased in response to fresh liquidity from central bank open market operations. But the volatility isn't over — indeed, it will be a regular feature in the future, experts warned. [More]

Investors spooked by PBOC's latest money market inaction

The A-share market prolonged its weakness during Christmas with a 1.58 percent drop on Thursday, as the central bank spooked investors by halting its scheduled Thursday money market operation. The year-to-date gain was trimmed to 5.58 percent, down from around 10 percent 12 trading days ago on Dec 10. [More]

IPO resumption

IPOs 'set for record year' in 2014

Next year will see record figures for Chinese initial public offerings due to the resumption of IPOs on the Chinese mainland and strong Hong Kong momentum, according to a Ernst & Young report released.[More]

Comeback of IPOs 'welcome news' for PE, VC companies

Private equity and venture capital firms have invested in about 20,000 Chinese companies, but they've only cashed out from fewer than 3,000, so the pending resumption of initial public offerings is a welcome development, Ni Zhengdong, chairman of the Zero2IPO Group, said on Wednesday. [More]

Yuan globalization

Yuan to appreciate moderately in 2014

Deutsche Bank strategists forecast that the yuan will appreciate versus the US dollar by roughly 2-3 percent in 2014, and that renminbi cross-border trade settlement will increase by roughly 50 percent to 6 trillion yuan ($983 billion), or approximately 20 percent of China's global trade volume. [More]

Yuan seen falling in next 2 years

The yuan may be more likely to depreciate than appreciate in the next two years amid China's economic growth and financial reforms, Shen Minggao, head of China research at Citibank, said at a news conference in Shanghai on Tuesday. [More]

Insurance

Better quality growth for life insurers in 2014

Increasing product diversity, and greater emphasis on margin improvement instead of market share, will support quality growth in the life insurance sector in 2014, Fitch Ratings said on Friday. [More]

Insurers on path to more sustainable growth

"Insurers are no longer just focused on pure growth. Many players are becoming more profit oriented, with a higher awareness of risk management and willingness to diversify into new product areas. And that should mean more sustainable growth in the longer term," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Connie Wong. [More]

M&A activities

M&As expected to surge in 2014

Despite predictions of an upturn by many, the global mergers and acquisitions market reached an eight-year low in 2013, even dipping below the post-dot.com doldrums levels of 13 years ago, falling by a further 6.2 percent from 2012. [More]

Overseas M&A deals on the rise

Chinese overseas mergers and acquisitions reached a new high in the first half of the year, with deals getting bigger in size and higher up on the value chain, global accounting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said in a report released on Tuesday. [More]