Silver Point

Thomas J. Monaco

Silver Point is a boutique research firm that focuses on the broader financial services sector, with a particular focus on troubled institutions globally. 

Asia Ex Japan

Equity Bottom-Up

<p><strong><em>*BEA Life Deal: </em></strong>In an effort to reinforce its Greater China franchise, AIA Group (1299.HK) [AIA] has entered into an agreement to purchase Bank of East Asia’s (23.HK) [BEA] wholly-owned life insurance unit, BEA Life, and entered into an exclusive 15-year bancassurance relationship with BEA for HKD 5.07 bn (USD 653 mn) covering Hong Kong and mainland China; and </p><p><strong><em>*Lost Focus: </em></strong>Acquiring a fledgling Hong Kong insurance franchise at a premium when you’re the dominant player and unemployment remains excessive, suggests that AIA is more concerned with growth metrics rather than addressing the risks that AIA is facing in mainland China, Hong Kong, and in its investment portfolio. </p>

*BEA Life Deal: In an effort to reinforce its Greater China franchise, AIA Group (1299.HK) [AIA] has entered into an agreement to purchase Bank of East Asia’s (23.HK) [BEA] wholly-owned life insurance unit, BEA Life, and entered into an exclusive 15-year bancassurance relationship with BEA for HKD 5.07 bn (USD 653 mn) covering Hong Kong and mainland China; and *Lost Focus: Acquiring a fledgling Hong Kong insurance franchise at a premium when you’re the dominant player and unemployment remains excessive, suggests that AIA is more concerned with growth metrics rather than addressing the risks that AIA is facing in mainland China, Hong Kong, and in its investment portfolio. 

AIA Group – Confirming No Organic Growth On Horizon

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events, Quiddity Advisors

Travis Lundy

Pan-Asia Catalysts/Events

Quiddity Advisors

Quantitative Analysis

<div>
<p>Spreads narrowed sharply this week with 68 of 100 liquid spreads narrowing, 32 widening. The big winner on the week was Consumer narrowing 2.46% as every spread in the space narrowed despite five of six stocks falling in Hs (i.e. As fell even more). </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/shandong-chenming-paper-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:13775:1" rel="noopener">Shandong Chenming Paper H (1812 HK)</a> situation intruded on the H/S spreads this week as the decision to convert the B shares to Hs (described by <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/profiles/david-blennerhassett" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="accounts:840" rel="noopener">David Blennerhassett</a> in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/shandong-chenming-paper-1812-hk-the-h-b-convergence-trade" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:49247" rel="noopener">Shandong Chenming Paper (1812 HK): The H/B Convergence Trade</a> mid-week) caused ructions in the H/A spread.</p>
<p>But overall, it was a decent week. Only two sectors saw spreads widen (Energy and Utilities), both accompanied by net southbound selling in the week to Wednesday (the last day to which we have granular name-by-name data).</p>
<table class="table table-striped"><tbody>
<tr>
<td><p>Sector</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>Last Week</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>Previous Week</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>3wks Ago</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>4wks Ago</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Consumer</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 2.46%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.74%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.14%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.65%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Energy</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.39%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.56%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.36%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.67%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Financials &amp; Real Estate</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.92%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.53%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.19%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.12%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Health Care &amp; Info Tech</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.50%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 2.29%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.54%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  2.86%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Industrials</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.19%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.15%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.42%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.20%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Materials</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.42%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.61%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.33%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.84%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Utilities</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.91%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.87%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.25%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.14%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><strong>Sector Average</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>+ 0.88%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>+ 0.41%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>-  0.26%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>-  1.02%</strong></p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p><strong>All Market Average</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>+ 0.96%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>+ 0.59%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>+ 0.05%</strong></p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p><strong>-  1.22%</strong></p></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
</div><div><div></div></div><p><span>10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to fall. This past week ended at 20% down from 23% in the ten days to 12 March. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is still under 20%.</span></p><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/195/770/original/Screenshot+2021-03-20+at+8.25.25+PM.png?1616243179" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="195770"></figure></section><div><div>
<hr>
<h3>The H/A Spread Market</h3>
</div></div><div><p>The past week has seen H-shares come off, but spreads narrow as Hs outperformed their As pretty dramatically. Interestingly, the narrower the spread, to start with, the better the performance on the week. Ideally, spread players want to see that red line sloping downward from upper left to lower right because even a big spread movement for a 70% discount stock means very large performance is needed to catch up. </p></div><div><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/195/724/original/Screenshot+2021-03-20+at+5.41.02+PM.png?1616233277" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="195724"></figure></section></div><div>
<p>The average discount has started tightening again and we are at 38% which is where the spread rebounded to un Q2 of 2020 after widening in the Covid-crash. </p>
<p>In 2019, spreads spent a fairly long time in the 34-36% average. </p>
</div><section><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/195/728/original/Screenshot+2021-03-20+at+5.44.03+PM.png?1616233457" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="195728"></figure></section></section><hr><div><div><h2>Last Week's Recommendations</h2></div></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>There were 81 recommendations last week.</li>
<li>Positive alpha returned. There were 49 long spreads and 32 short spreads which gained on average 27bp against the delta-neutral gain of 0.20%, indicating spread alpha of 7bp on the week. This is back to a good trend after a horrible week the week before.</li>
<li>There are <em>nearly</em> 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  </li>
</ul></div><hr><div><div><h2>Consumer Sector</h2></div></div><div>
<p>The first sector discussed is Consumer. It was a complex week there. </p>
<ul>
<li>Five out of six H-shares were down on the week. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/tsingtao-brewery-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1296:1" rel="noopener">Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd H (168 HK)</a> was up 10.6%.</li>
<li>All six spreads narrowed with the average H-share outperformance of A at 2.46%. It was a strong week for every spread in the group. </li>
<li>Normally when this happens, there is significant net selling by Southbound. This week saw net buying of HK$270mm to Wednesday, halting four straight weeks prior of net selling. </li>
</ul>
</div><div></div><div><div><div class="content-highlight">
<p>Last week, I recommended keeping the shorts (<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20962:1" rel="noopener">BYD (1211 HK)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a>) and the long in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/guangzhou-automobile-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11082:1" rel="noopener">Guangzhou Automobile Group (2238 HK)</a> and adding a long on <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hisense-home-appliances-group-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20107:1" rel="noopener">Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK)</a> H vs A.</p>
<p>Those trades lost an average of 0.51% last week in spread terms after losing 29bp the week before, and 16bp the week before that. Despite three losing weeks in a row, positioning in the sector is still up 262bp in four weeks. </p>
<p>This week's trade recommendations are below the fold.</p>
</div></div></div><div><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/195/729/original/Screenshot+2021-03-20+at+5.44.45+PM.png?1616233498" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="195729"></figure></section></div><div><section>For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.</section></div>


Spreads narrowed sharply this week with 68 of 100 liquid spreads narrowing, 32 widening. The big winner on the week was Consumer narrowing 2.46% as every spread in the space narrowed despite five of six stocks falling in Hs (i.e. As fell even more). 
The Shandong Chenming Paper H (1812 HK) situation intruded on the H/S spreads this week as the decision to convert the B shares to Hs (described by David Blennerhassett in Shandong Chenming Paper (1812 HK): The H/B Convergence Trade mid-week) caused ructions in the H/A spread.
But overall, it was a decent week. Only two sectors saw spreads widen (Energy and Utilities), both accompanied by net southbound selling in the week to Wednesday (the last day to which we have granular name-by-name data).


Sector
Last Week
Previous Week
3wks Ago
4wks Ago


Consumer
+ 2.46%
+ 0.74%
-  0.14%
-  1.65%


Energy
-  0.39%
-  0.56%
-  0.36%
+ 0.67%


Financials &amp; Real Estate
+ 0.92%
+ 0.53%
+ 1.19%
-  1.12%


Health Care &amp; Info Tech
+ 1.50%
+ 2.29%
-  0.54%
-  2.86%


Industrials
+ 1.19%
+ 0.15%
-  0.42%
-  1.20%


Materials
+ 1.42%
+ 0.61%
-  0.33%
-  0.84%


Utilities
-  0.91%
-  0.87%
-  1.25%
-  0.14%


Sector Average
+ 0.88%
+ 0.41%
-  0.26%
-  1.02%


All Market Average
+ 0.96%
+ 0.59%
+ 0.05%
-  1.22%


10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to fall. This past week ended at 20% down from 23% in the ten days to 12 March. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is still under 20%.

The H/A Spread Market
The past week has seen H-shares come off, but spreads narrow as Hs outperformed their As pretty dramatically. Interestingly, the narrower the spread, to start with, the better the performance on the week. Ideally, spread players want to see that red line sloping downward from upper left to lower right because even a big spread movement for a 70% discount stock means very large performance is needed to catch up. 
The average discount has started tightening again and we are at 38% which is where the spread rebounded to un Q2 of 2020 after widening in the Covid-crash. 
In 2019, spreads spent a fairly long time in the 34-36% average. 
Last Week's Recommendations
There were 81 recommendations last week.
Positive alpha returned. There were 49 long spreads and 32 short spreads which gained on average 27bp against the delta-neutral gain of 0.20%, indicating spread alpha of 7bp on the week. This is back to a good trend after a horrible week the week before.
There are nearly 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  
Consumer Sector
The first sector discussed is Consumer. It was a complex week there. 

Five out of six H-shares were down on the week. Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd H (168 HK) was up 10.6%.
All six spreads narrowed with the average H-share outperformance of A at 2.46%. It was a strong week for every spread in the group. 
Normally when this happens, there is significant net selling by Southbound. This week saw net buying of HK$270mm to Wednesday, halting four straight weeks prior of net selling. 


Last week, I recommended keeping the shorts (BYD (1211 HK) and Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)) and the long in Guangzhou Automobile Group (2238 HK) and adding a long on Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK) H vs A.
Those trades lost an average of 0.51% last week in spread terms after losing 29bp the week before, and 16bp the week before that. Despite three losing weeks in a row, positioning in the sector is still up 262bp in four weeks. 
This week's trade recommendations are below the fold.
For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.

Quiddity Weekly H/A: Consumer Strong, Spreads Narrowing Masks A-Share Weakness

<div><p>Spreads generally narrowed this week with 63 of 100 liquid spreads narrowing, 37 widening. The big winner on the week was Health Care and Tech narrowing 2.3%. One tech name <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/flat-glass-group-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:1108:1" rel="noopener">Flat Glass (6865 HK)</a> moved 10+% while several healthcare names saw spreads narrow 3-7% each, all happening in a somewhat lackluster week for outright performance. Overall, five of seven sectors represented saw spreads narrow.</p></div><div><table class="table table-striped"><tbody>
<tr>
<td><p>Sector</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>Last Week</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>Previous Week</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>3wks Ago</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>4wks Ago</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Consumer</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.74%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.14%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.65%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.20%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Energy</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.56%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.36%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.67%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.43%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Financials &amp; Real Estate</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.53%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.19%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.12%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.10%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Health Care &amp; Info Tech</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 2.29%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.54%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  2.86%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 1.45%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Industrials</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.15%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.42%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.20%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.26%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Materials</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.61%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.33%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.84%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 3.08%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Utilities</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.87%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.25%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.14%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.99%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Sector Average</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.41%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  0.26%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.02%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.87%</p></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>All Market Average</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.59%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.05%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>-  1.22%</p></td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><p>+ 0.76%</p></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table></div><div><div></div></div><p>10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to be somewhat high at 23% annualised. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is still just under 20%.</p><div><div>
<hr>
<h3>The H/A Spread Market</h3>
</div></div><div><p>The past week has seen H-shares come off sharply and spreads widen reasonably dramatically. </p></div><section><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/194/200/original/Screenshot+2021-03-14+at+9.05.58+AM.png?1615683976" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="194200"></figure><p></p></section></section><p>The average discount appears not to want to tighten, still. The average spread has kept at around 40.0% plus or minus a small bit for the past eight weeks or so (despite that illiquidity-bump around LNY). This week we narrowed just inside 40%.</p><section><section><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/194/201/original/Screenshot+2021-03-14+at+9.08.22+AM.png?1615684116" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="194201"></figure></section><p></p></section></section><hr><div><div><h2>Last Week's Recommendations</h2></div></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>There were 80 recommendations last week.</li>
<li>This is the second week of negative alpha for the portfolio strategy in as many weeks. The average trade loss 22bp and only 31 of 80 trades recommended was up on the week. Shorts were particularly to blame as spread compression among the names in the 10-25% discount range was much wider than in the 35-60% discount range.</li>
<li>There are <em>nearly</em> 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  </li>
</ul></div><hr><div><div><h2>Consumer Sector</h2></div></div><div><p>The first sector discussed is Consumer, where most H-shares fell on the week. Shares averaged down 1.4% this past week after gaining 0.6% the week before. The two gainers from the prior week both fell this week.</p></div><div><ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Spreads were less tame, but momentum continues to be strong.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20962:1" rel="noopener">BYD (1211 HK)</a> ended the week down 2% despite good production numbers out at the end of the week prior. BYD is down 28% in four weeks. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a> continued to fall and the spread continued to widen. It is now 13% wider over 4 weeks, but is still the second-narrowest spread in the sector at 21% vs the average spread in the sector at -30%.</li>
<li>Southbound was a net seller of nearly HK$611mm after selling nearly that amount the prior week and HK$2bn in the two weeks before that. <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/great-wall-motor-co-ltd-cb302af9-398c-4d2d-ba39-023e43287eef" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:128:1" rel="noopener">Great Wall Motor (2333 HK)</a> saw continued net buying by southbound, which added about 60bp of H-share float ownership on the week through Wednesday.</li>
</ul></div><div><div><div class="content-highlight">
<p>Last week, I recommended staying short <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20962:1" rel="noopener">BYD (1211 HK)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a> H vs A, unwinding the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hisense-home-appliances-group-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20107:1" rel="noopener">Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK)</a> short, and replacing the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/great-wall-motor-co-ltd-cb302af9-398c-4d2d-ba39-023e43287eef" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:128:1" rel="noopener">Great Wall Motor (2333 HK)</a> long with <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/guangzhou-automobile-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:11082:1" rel="noopener">Guangzhou Automobile Group (2238 HK)</a>. </p>
<p>Those trades lost an average of 0.29% last week in spread terms after losing 16bp the week before, but gaining 3.58% the week before that. </p>
</div></div></div><div>
<section class="figure"><section class="figure"><figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/194/249/original/Screenshot+2021-03-14+at+11.50.08+AM.png?1615693825" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="194249"></figure><p></p></section></section><section class="figure">For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.</section>
</div>

Spreads generally narrowed this week with 63 of 100 liquid spreads narrowing, 37 widening. The big winner on the week was Health Care and Tech narrowing 2.3%. One tech name Flat Glass (6865 HK) moved 10+% while several healthcare names saw spreads narrow 3-7% each, all happening in a somewhat lackluster week for outright performance. Overall, five of seven sectors represented saw spreads narrow.

Sector
Last Week
Previous Week
3wks Ago
4wks Ago


Consumer
+ 0.74%
-  0.14%
-  1.65%
-  1.20%


Energy
-  0.56%
-  0.36%
+ 0.67%
+ 1.43%


Financials &amp; Real Estate
+ 0.53%
+ 1.19%
-  1.12%
+ 0.10%


Health Care &amp; Info Tech
+ 2.29%
-  0.54%
-  2.86%
+ 1.45%


Industrials
+ 0.15%
-  0.42%
-  1.20%
+ 0.26%


Materials
+ 0.61%
-  0.33%
-  0.84%
+ 3.08%


Utilities
-  0.87%
-  1.25%
-  0.14%
+ 0.99%


Sector Average
+ 0.41%
-  0.26%
-  1.02%
+ 0.87%


All Market Average
+ 0.59%
+ 0.05%
-  1.22%
+ 0.76%

10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to be somewhat high at 23% annualised. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is still just under 20%.

The H/A Spread Market
The past week has seen H-shares come off sharply and spreads widen reasonably dramatically. The average discount appears not to want to tighten, still. The average spread has kept at around 40.0% plus or minus a small bit for the past eight weeks or so (despite that illiquidity-bump around LNY). This week we narrowed just inside 40%.Last Week's Recommendations
There were 80 recommendations last week.
This is the second week of negative alpha for the portfolio strategy in as many weeks. The average trade loss 22bp and only 31 of 80 trades recommended was up on the week. Shorts were particularly to blame as spread compression among the names in the 10-25% discount range was much wider than in the 35-60% discount range.
There are nearly 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  
Consumer SectorThe first sector discussed is Consumer, where most H-shares fell on the week. Shares averaged down 1.4% this past week after gaining 0.6% the week before. The two gainers from the prior week both fell this week.
Spreads were less tame, but momentum continues to be strong.

BYD (1211 HK) ended the week down 2% despite good production numbers out at the end of the week prior. BYD is down 28% in four weeks. 

Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK) continued to fall and the spread continued to widen. It is now 13% wider over 4 weeks, but is still the second-narrowest spread in the sector at 21% vs the average spread in the sector at -30%.
Southbound was a net seller of nearly HK$611mm after selling nearly that amount the prior week and HK$2bn in the two weeks before that. Great Wall Motor (2333 HK) saw continued net buying by southbound, which added about 60bp of H-share float ownership on the week through Wednesday.

Last week, I recommended staying short BYD (1211 HK), and Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK) H vs A, unwinding the Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK) short, and replacing the Great Wall Motor (2333 HK) long with Guangzhou Automobile Group (2238 HK). 
Those trades lost an average of 0.29% last week in spread terms after losing 16bp the week before, but gaining 3.58% the week before that. 

For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.


Quiddity Weekly H/A: Energy Up, Spreads Wider, Pharmas Down Spreads Narrower

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One, Periscope Analytics

Brian Freitas

Pan-Asia Index Rebalances/ Events/ Delta One

Index Rebalance

<p>On 1 March, Hang Seng Indexes (HSIL) announced the conclusions of the market consultation on the "Proposal to enhance the Hang Seng Index as regards continuing to serve as the most representative and important benchmark of the Hong Kong stock market".</p><p>The main takeaways are an increase in the number of <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hong-kong-hang-seng-index" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22899:1" rel="noopener">Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX)</a> constituents to 80 by mid-2022 and ultimately to 100, balanced representation across 7 Industry group with a market coverage of not less than 50%, a 3 month minimum listing history requirement, a representation of 20-25 Hong Kong companies in the index, and a rationalisation in the weighting cap to 8% for all stocks (including Secondary Listings and WVR Securities).</p><p>There is no timeline of how HSIL intends to reach the 80 constituent target count by mid-2022 or to the 100 constituents beyond that. HSIL has not updated the index methodology file either which adds another layer of uncertainty.</p><p>In this Insight we look at stocks that could be higher probability inclusions in the index at the June review based on the current index methodology and the proposed changes to the methodology and come up with 9 potential inclusions and 2 potential exclusions.</p>

On 1 March, Hang Seng Indexes (HSIL) announced the conclusions of the market consultation on the "Proposal to enhance the Hang Seng Index as regards continuing to serve as the most representative and important benchmark of the Hong Kong stock market".The main takeaways are an increase in the number of Hong Kong Hang Seng Index (HSI INDEX) constituents to 80 by mid-2022 and ultimately to 100, balanced representation across 7 Industry group with a market coverage of not less than 50%, a 3 month minimum listing history requirement, a representation of 20-25 Hong Kong companies in the index, and a rationalisation in the weighting cap to 8% for all stocks (including Secondary Listings and WVR Securities).There is no timeline of how HSIL intends to reach the 80 constituent target count by mid-2022 or to the 100 constituents beyond that. HSIL has not updated the index methodology file either which adds another layer of uncertainty.In this Insight we look at stocks that could be higher probability inclusions in the index at the June review based on the current index methodology and the proposed changes to the methodology and come up with 9 potential inclusions and 2 potential exclusions.

HSI Index Rebalance Preview: Potential Changes in June

Event-Driven

<div>
<p>Spreads were mixed this week with 48 out of 100 observed pair spreads narrower and 52 wider. The big winner on the week was Financials with spreads 119bp narrower on average. Banks and Big Insurance generally narrowed. </p>
</div>
<div>
<p>Overall, it was a lackluster performance, and one cannot say spreads won't move wider, but at 40% discount (and an arithmetic average upside of 87% for each liquid H to reach parity with its A), this spreads <em>are</em> wide.</p>
</div>
<div>
<table class="table table-striped">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p><strong>Sector</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p><strong>Last Week</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p><strong>Previous Week</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p><strong>3wks Ago</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p><strong>4wks Ago</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Consumer</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  0.14%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  1.65%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>-  1.20%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>+ 2.55%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Energy</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  0.36%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>+ 0.67%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 1.43%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>-  1.64%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Financials &amp; Real Estate</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>+ 1.19%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  1.12%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 0.10%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>+ 0.29%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Health Care &amp; Info Tech</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  0.54%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  2.86%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 1.45%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>-  1.52%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Industrials</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  0.42%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  1.20%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 0.26%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>-  0.62%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Materials</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  0.33%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  0.84%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 3.08%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>-  0.57%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p>Utilities</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p>-  1.25%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p>-  0.14%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p>+ 0.99%</p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p>+ 0.25%</p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p><em><strong>Sector Average</strong></em></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p><em><strong>-  0.26%</strong></em></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p><em><strong>-  1.02%</strong></em></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p><em><strong>+ 0.87%</strong></em></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p><em><strong>-  0.18%</strong></em></p>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 211.818px;">
<p><strong>All Market Average</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 99.0909px;">
<p><strong>- 0.03%</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 136.364px;">
<p><strong>-  1.22%</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 95.4545px;">
<p><strong>+ 0.76%</strong></p>
</td>
<td style="text-align: right; width: 97.2727px;">
<p><strong>-  0.33%</strong></p>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
<div>
<div></div>
</div>
<div>
<p>10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to be high at 26% annualised. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is quite a bit lower. </p>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<hr>
<h3>The H/A Spread Market</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p>The past week has seen H-shares come off sharply and spreads widen reasonably dramatically. </p>
</div>
<section>
<section class="figure">
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/192/678/original/Screenshot+2021-03-07+at+8.28.29+PM.png?1615120136" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="192678"></figure>
</section>
<p></p>
</section>
<div>
<p>The average discount appears not to want to tighten, still. The average spread has kept at around 40.0% for the past four weeks or so (despite that illiquidity-bump around LNY). </p>
</div>
<section>
<section class="figure">
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/192/679/original/Screenshot+2021-03-07+at+8.30.27+PM.png?1615120295" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="192679"></figure>
</section>
</section>
<hr>
<div>
<h2>Last Week's Recommendations</h2>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>There were 80 recommendations last week. This was the first losing week on alpha in several. </li>
<li>The 34 short spread recommendations lost an average of 0.12%, underperforming the market as a whole (which saw the average spread widen 0.03%). That is negative alpha of 9bp after positive alpha of 48bp the previous week on 33 spreads.</li>
<li>The 46 long recommendations averaged losses of 4bp during the week, underperforming the market as a whole by 1bp (vs +46bp outperformance the previous week). The combined total package was up -0.07% for the week vs +0.27% for the prior week, with -10bp of cross-bias alpha (vs 92bp of alpha on the cross-bias the previous week).</li>
<li>There are nearly 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  </li>
</ul>
</div>
<hr>
<div>
<div>
<h2>Consumer Sector</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<p>The first sector discussed is Consumer, where most H-shares fell on the week </p>
</div>
<div>
<ul style="list-style-type: disc;">
<li>Spreads were remarkably tame.</li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20962:1" rel="noopener">BYD (1211 HK)</a> ended the week down 1.1% after rising in the first four days, and the shares even fell Friday despite <a href="https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2021/0304/2021030401545.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announcing</a> Thursday after the close that production was up 125%yoy in February, and sales +106%. BYD is down 20+% in four weeks. </li>
<li>
<a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a> was only up small in sympathy, outperforming auto names, and significantly outperforming glass names across other sectors. Thursday saw significant selling of glass names. </li>
<li>Southbound was a net seller of nearly HK$585mm after selling HK$2bn in the previous two weeks. Only <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a> saw decent Southbound buying on a net basis (+HK$190mm). BYD was the big net sell at -HK$673mm. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="content-highlight">
<p>Last week, I recommended staying long the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/great-wall-motor-co-ltd-cb302af9-398c-4d2d-ba39-023e43287eef" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:128:1" rel="noopener">Great Wall Motor (2333 HK)</a> H vs A, and short <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/byd-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20962:1" rel="noopener">BYD (1211 HK)</a>, <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/hisense-home-appliances-group-co-ltd-h" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:20107:1" rel="noopener">Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK)</a>, and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/fuyao-glass-industry-group-co-ltd" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:330:1" rel="noopener">Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK)</a> H vs A. </p>
<p>Those four trades lost an average of 0.16% last week in spread terms after gaining 3.58% the previous week.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div>
<section class="figure">
<section class="figure">
<figure class="editor-figure mceNonEditable"><img src="https://static-prod.smartkarma.com/images/media/000/192/669/original/Screenshot+2021-03-07+at+7.38.39+PM.png?1615117130" class="editor-image img-responsive" data-smartkarma-image-id="192669"></figure>
<p></p>
</section>
</section>
</div>
<div>
<section>For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.</section>
</div>


Spreads were mixed this week with 48 out of 100 observed pair spreads narrower and 52 wider. The big winner on the week was Financials with spreads 119bp narrower on average. Banks and Big Insurance generally narrowed. 


Overall, it was a lackluster performance, and one cannot say spreads won't move wider, but at 40% discount (and an arithmetic average upside of 87% for each liquid H to reach parity with its A), this spreads are wide.






Sector


Last Week


Previous Week


3wks Ago


4wks Ago




Consumer


-  0.14%


-  1.65%


-  1.20%


+ 2.55%




Energy


-  0.36%


+ 0.67%


+ 1.43%


-  1.64%




Financials &amp; Real Estate


+ 1.19%


-  1.12%


+ 0.10%


+ 0.29%




Health Care &amp; Info Tech


-  0.54%


-  2.86%


+ 1.45%


-  1.52%




Industrials


-  0.42%


-  1.20%


+ 0.26%


-  0.62%




Materials


-  0.33%


-  0.84%


+ 3.08%


-  0.57%




Utilities


-  1.25%


-  0.14%


+ 0.99%


+ 0.25%




Sector Average


-  0.26%


-  1.02%


+ 0.87%


-  0.18%




All Market Average


- 0.03%


-  1.22%


+ 0.76%


-  0.33%









10-day cross-market spread volatility continues to be high at 26% annualised. This is down off highs in the low 30s a couple weeks ago, but the long-term average is quite a bit lower. 




The H/A Spread Market



The past week has seen H-shares come off sharply and spreads widen reasonably dramatically. 








The average discount appears not to want to tighten, still. The average spread has kept at around 40.0% for the past four weeks or so (despite that illiquidity-bump around LNY). 








Last Week's Recommendations



There were 80 recommendations last week. This was the first losing week on alpha in several. 
The 34 short spread recommendations lost an average of 0.12%, underperforming the market as a whole (which saw the average spread widen 0.03%). That is negative alpha of 9bp after positive alpha of 48bp the previous week on 33 spreads.
The 46 long recommendations averaged losses of 4bp during the week, underperforming the market as a whole by 1bp (vs +46bp outperformance the previous week). The combined total package was up -0.07% for the week vs +0.27% for the prior week, with -10bp of cross-bias alpha (vs 92bp of alpha on the cross-bias the previous week).
There are nearly 80 recommendations this week (turnover remains low).  





Consumer Sector



The first sector discussed is Consumer, where most H-shares fell on the week 



Spreads were remarkably tame.

BYD (1211 HK) ended the week down 1.1% after rising in the first four days, and the shares even fell Friday despite announcing Thursday after the close that production was up 125%yoy in February, and sales +106%. BYD is down 20+% in four weeks. 

Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK) was only up small in sympathy, outperforming auto names, and significantly outperforming glass names across other sectors. Thursday saw significant selling of glass names. 
Southbound was a net seller of nearly HK$585mm after selling HK$2bn in the previous two weeks. Only Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK) saw decent Southbound buying on a net basis (+HK$190mm). BYD was the big net sell at -HK$673mm. 





Last week, I recommended staying long the Great Wall Motor (2333 HK) H vs A, and short BYD (1211 HK), Hisense Home Appliances Group Co., Ltd. H (921 HK), and Fuyao Glass Industry Group (3606 HK) H vs A. 
Those four trades lost an average of 0.16% last week in spread terms after gaining 3.58% the previous week.












For this week's recommendations on Consumer, and discussion of the Energy, Financials &amp; Real Estate, Health Care, Tech, Industrials, Materials, and Utilities sectors, and all trade recommendations, please read on.


Quiddity Weekly H/A: Financials Outpace Everything Else: Marketwide 87% Upside to A-Share Parity

China

China Life Insurance Co., Limited offers a wide range of life, accident, and health insurance products and services.

Price Gauge
52-week Range	0.00 - 0.00
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China Life Insurance Co (Adr) (LFC US)

AIA Group – Confirming No Organic Growth On Horizon

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Quiddity Weekly H/A: Energy Up, Spreads Wider, Pharmas Down Spreads Narrower

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Travis Lundy

HSI Index Rebalance Preview: Potential Changes in June

Following the proposed changes to the HSI, we identify potential inclusions and exclusions at the June review. Turnover will be high due to changes...

Brian Freitas

Price Gauge

52-week Range

Market Cap (USDm)

P/E

Dividend (Yield)

AIA Group – Confirming No Organic Growth On Horizon

AIA GROUP: AIA entered into an agreement to acquire BEA Life, and entered into a bancassurance relationship with BEA. Acquiring a fledgling Hong...

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The move in H/A spreads was 96bp this week. The strength in spreads masks some A-share weakness in the big and liquid names. Quiddity long/short...

Travis Lundy

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Spread momentum continues unabated. Of note, CanSino's vaccine approval is getting no friends as the stock is down nearly 25% in 2 weeks and 29% in...

Travis Lundy

HSI Index Rebalance Preview: Potential Changes in June

Following the proposed changes to the HSI, we identify potential inclusions and exclusions at the June review. Turnover will be high due to changes...

Brian Freitas

Quiddity Weekly H/A: Financials Outpace Everything Else: Marketwide 87% Upside to A-Share Parity

H/A spreads were largely unchanged on the week but more widened than narrowed. Financials was the only sector narrower on the whole. With average...

Travis Lundy