Health stocks appear hottest, 'risky'

A company that makes medicine out of snake gall bladders has seen its shares more than double this year as healthcare companies become China's hottest stocks.

In a market buffeted by the fallout from the US trade disputes, mainland investors have sought shelter in firms like traditional medicine maker Zhangzhou Pien Tze Huang Pharmaceutical Co, that make almost all their sales at home. It also does not hurt that China's healthcare industry is expected to post above-average profit growth of more than 20 percent for the next three to five years, Bloomberg estimates show, as China's massive population ages and gets wealthier.

That's all adding up to scorching gains: drugmakers and other health stocks are by far the best-performing corner of the Chinese market in 2018, up nearly 30 percent.