This Week: CN50 bulls are to conquer 12000 psychological level?

The CN50 stock index tracks the performance of the FTSE China A50 index, which comprises the 50 largest Chinese companies that are listed on the Shanghai/Shenzhen stock exchanges.

This index has year-to-date gains of over 5%, as we enter the final trading week of Q1 2024.

Chinese stocks have been climbing of late on hopes of more government stimulus to support its stuttering economic recovery.

However, this week’s events are set to have a major influence on whether CN50 can go further above 12,000 or sink back below that psychological mark going into Q2.

Events Watchlist:
 

• Sunday-Friday, March 24 – 29th: Chinese company earnings

All week long, 21 different companies included in the CN50 stock index are due to report their latest quarterly earnings. With these companies comprising about 30% of the total weightage of the CN50, how markets respond to their earnings are due to sway the broader stock index as well.
 

• Wednesday, March 27th: China February industrial profits

China’s factories are expected to post a 9% year-on-year increase in profits for January-February 2024. This would be in line with the 7% year-to-date expansion in industrial production for the period. A higher-than-9% figure could boost this CN50 index higher on hopes that China’s economy is still making a meaningful recovery.
 

• Thursday, March 28th: Quarterly earnings from Country Garden, China Vanke

Although both stocks are not part of the broader CN50 index, Country Garden and China Vanke are major players in a property industry which accounts for about 20% of China’s total GDP. Dismal earnings out of either of these property developers may raise fears for the world’s second-largest economy and drag CN50 below 12,000.

Here’s a comprehensive list of other key economic data and events due this week:

Monday, March 25

• JPY: Bank of Japan meeting minutes
   
• SGD: Singapore February CPI
   
• TWN index: Taiwan February industrial production
   
• GBP: Speech by BOE policy maker Catherine Mann
   
• USD: US February new home sales; speech by Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic
   

Tuesday, March 26

• AUD: Australia March consumer confidence
   
• SG20 index: Singapore February industrial production
   
• EUR: Germany April consumer confidence
   
• RUS2000 index: US March consumer confidence
   

Wednesday, March 27

• NZD: New Zealand March consumer confidence
   
• AUD: Australia February CPI
   
• CN50 index: China industrial profits; China bank earnings
   
• SEK: Sweden policy rate decision
   
• EUR: Eurozone March economic confidence
   
• ZAR: SARB interest rate decision
   

Thursday, March 28

• NZD: New Zealand March business confidence
   
• AUD: Australia February retail sales
   
• EUR: Germany February retail sales; March unemployment
   
• GBP: UK 4Q GDP (final)
   
• US30 index: US weekly initial jobless claims; 4Q GDP (final)
   

Friday, March 29

• JPY: March Tokyo CPI; Japan February jobless rate, retail sales, industrial production
   
• US500 index: US February PCE Deflators, personal income and spending
   
• US markets closed