In the 1975 Steely Dan classic, the song Black Friday refers to a 24 September 1869 ploy by a group of wealthy US investors to corner the Gold market and drive the price higher, but who were subsequently foiled when the Government got wind and released $4 million worth of Gold onto the market, driving the price sharply lower and which left many of the investors broke. This is a fairly lame segue into the news, courtesy of the Financial Times, that China’s ‘national team’ owns at least 6 percent of the mainland stock market as a result of the massive state-sponsored support earlier this year to prop up share prices following the summer equity market crash. China’s Securities Finance Corp (CSF), the state-owned margin lender, saw the value of its holdings rise from RMB692mn at the end of June to RMB616bn three months later. That’s an increase of just under $100bn. The Shanghai Composite index is some 28% up from its August lows.
Recent Comments