12/31/2008

Rogers Says He’s Buying China Shares in Hong Kong

Dec. 31 -- Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, said he’s been buying shares of Chinese companies even as growth in the world’s fourth-largest economy slows.

Rogers started buying Chinese shares in 1988 and is now favoring equities traded in Hong Kong and Singapore that are cheaper than yuan-denominated stocks in Shanghai.

China is slowing but “some parts of the Chinese economy will be totally unaffected by what happens in the West,” Rogers said in an interview today in Hong Kong. “I started buying in October again. I never sold any Chinese shares.”

The nation’s economic growth is slowing as recessions in the U.S. and Europe stem demand. China’s exports fell for the first time in seven years in November, imports plunged and output contracted by a record. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks Chinese companies’ so-called H shares, has plunged 51 percent this year, its worst annual performance since at least 1994. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares listed on China’s two exchanges, tumbled 66 percent in 2008.

Rogers said he has been buying Chinese agricultural stocks because of the government’s support measures. Other industries he favors are infrastructure in China, water and tourism in Asia. He didn’t name any specific stocks.

Premier Wen Jiabao unveiled a 4 trillion yuan ($583 billion) stimulus package that included spending on roads and bridges last month. The Chinese government will increase spending by a “relatively big margin” and cut taxes next year, China National Radio, a state radio service, reported Dec. 10, citing the annual Central Economic Work Conference.

(Bloomberg)

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