China’s Speculative Stock Frenzy Spreads to Brokers and Media

  • Weak trade data and geopolitical tensions cited as reasons
  • Concerns linger over rally given lack of strong fundamentals

Chinese lenders posted a tepid set of first-quarter earnings as they faced deeper margin woes despite being sheltered from the recent global banking jitters. 

Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg
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Frenzied trading in stocks of China’s state-owned enterprises fizzled Tuesday afternoon as sentiment soured on the nation’s weak import data.

An index tracking some of China’s largest state-owned enterprises erased a gain of as much as 1.5% to finish the day 0.9% lower. The broader CSI 300 Index dropped by a similar amount. Brokerage stocks pared earlier surges.