Chinese investment in ASX 200 down $2b

The investment in ASX 200 from Chinese sovereign wealth and pension funds has halved in the last five years, according to the study by Orient Capital, the investor division of Link Group, which looked at the major trends shaping ownership in the Australian equities market.

The firm said that while the US index funds were growing ownership in ASX 200, at the same time across the sovereign wealth and pension funds, investment from China more than halved over the last five years, with a $2 billion decline in the last year alone.

The investment dropped from $25.8 billion in 2014 to $11.1 billion in 2019, the study said.

Orient Capital ANZ General Manager, Justin Ellis, said that although the drop was significant, it may suggest a strategic shift towards other asset classes locally, rather than a purposeful withdrawal of capital from the market entirely.

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“In either case, the growth in investment from other overseas sovereign wealth and pension funds has made up the shortfall,” he said.

Further to that that, the study also found that super funds doubled their direct investment in the ASX 200 over the last five years, in large part due to the internalisation of their investment mandate and some major funds such as UniSuper now manage more than 75% of their ASX investment internally.