中國股票收益率可期

For an economy often said to be on the brink of collapse, China has been doing rather well. This year, the MSCI China index has delivered a return of 14 per cent, twice that of the MSCI All Countries World. Recent data look set to underpin a continuation of the run.

就一個老被說處於崩潰邊緣的經濟體而言，中國一直表現得相當好。今年MSCI明晟中國指數(MSCI China index)已上漲14%，是MSCI明晟全球指數(MSCI All Country World)的兩倍。近期數據看來也支持這輪上漲持續下去。

Last week, official data showed China’s manufacturing activity grew at its fastest pace since 2012. That good news has fed through to 2016 earnings reports. CLSA, a brokerage, notes that four-fifths of the companies that have reported results have met or beaten forecasts. Surprisingly, listed property companies, long a source of concern for high debt levels, realised very strong cash flow, helping to boost dividends. Consensus earnings growth for the current year has been revised up by 2 percentage points.

上週官方數據顯示中國製造業活動實現2012年以來最快增速。這一好消息一直延伸到2016年盈利報告。券商里昂證券(CLSA)指出，已公佈業績的公司有五分之四達到或超過預期。令人驚訝的是，長期以來因高債務水平引起擔憂的上市房地產公司實現了非常強勁的現金流，有助於提振股息。對本年度盈利增長的共識預期已上調2個百分點。

The improvement is broad based. Dovetailing with data showing factories stopped laying off workers for the first time in five years, consumer trends have been strong. January and February online retail sales rose 31 per cent year on year, defying the norm of a seasonal slowdown. Macau, a weathervane of Chinese consumption, also had a strong start to the year. Even stodgy banks look set for a better 2017 after costs fell across the sector, notes Jefferies.

好轉是普遍的。與顯示五年來工廠首次停止裁員的數據相呼應，消費趨勢一直強勁。1月和2月網絡零售額同比增長31%，打破了季節性放緩規律。中國消費風向標澳門今年也有一個強勁開局。傑富瑞(Jefferies)指出，在行業成本整體下降後，就連笨重的銀行看來2017年都會有更佳表現。

Those in search of yield could do worse than look to the HSCEI, the index for Hong Kong-listed China shares, where yield is forecast to rise to nearly 4 per cent in 2017 versus 2 per cent for the MSCI. The latter includes more internet companies such as Alibaba, which in their growth phases tend to pay out less. For the HSCEI, the skew towards old economy state-owned enterprises is no longer the drag it was. With capacity reductions and improving demand, earnings at old industrials such as steel and miners have also picked up. And last month China Shenhua Energy, the state-owned coal miner, said it would pay a special dividend, equivalent to a mid-teens yield. With the government pushing more SOEs to pay out, Shenhua will not be the last.

對於尋求收益的人來說，看看恆生中國企業指數（HSCEI，簡稱國企指數，是追蹤香港上市內地企業的指數）是個不錯的選擇。預計2017年國企指數收益率將上升至近4%，而MSCI指數爲2%。後者包括更多互聯網企業，比如阿里巴巴(Alibaba)，這類企業在增長階段派息較少。至於國企指數，對傳統經濟國有企業的偏重將不再是過去那樣的拖累。隨着產能減少和需求增加，鋼鐵、礦業等傳統工業的盈利也有所回升。上個月國有煤礦企業中國神華能源(China Shenhua Energy)宣佈將派發特別股息，相當於百分之十幾的收益率。中國政府正推動更多國企派息，神華能源不會是最後一個。