Chinese ADR Monthly Update – December 2008
By Sun
This update is a little late for December 2008, but it’s here.
December was a good month for investors, a rare good time in a miserable year. Without the December rebound in stocks, 2008 could have been a lot worse for many people when the receive their year-end statements from brokers and mutual fund companies. Most stocks gained in December, even though major indices ended the month mixed. For the month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%, the Nasdaq rose 2.7% and the S&P 500 added 0.8%. However, mainland China investors were not that lucky. The Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index declined 2.7% after rallying 8.2% in November. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index, on the other hand, increased 3.6% following a small decline in November.
For Chinese stocks traded on U.S. exchanges, December also offered a little bit of relief to investors, even though 31 of 81 Chinese ADRs I track regularly still finished the month in red, with Ninetowns Internet Technology (NINE) led the way with a 26.89% decline (Hutchison Telecomm (HTX)’s 77.08% drop in share price is due to a special dividend on December 3rd), followed by Sina (SINA) -25.08%. The biggest winner of the month is Acron International (ATV), which saw its share surging nearly 140%. Semiconductor Manufacturing (SMI)’s stock also more than doubled in December.
| Name | Symbol | 12/31/08 Price | December Return | 2008 Return |
| 3SBio | SSRX | $7.8 | 30.43% | -47.58% |
| 51Job | JOBS | $6.16 | -12.50% | -65.82% |
| Acorn international | ATV | $3.9 | 139.26% | -58.20% |
| Actions Semiconductor | ACTS | $1.61 | 6.62% | -60.54% |
| Agria | GRO | $1.49 | -9.70% | -84.03% |
| AirMedia Group | AMCN | $4.8 | -18.09% | -78.55% |
| Aluminum Corp of China | ACH | $13.51 | 17.17% | -73.32% |
| ATA* | ATAI | $5.09 | -7.45% | -46.42% |
| Baidu.com | BIDU | $130.57 | -3.91% | -66.50% |
| China Architectural Engineering | RCH | $2.46 | -15.17% | -71.56% |
| China Digital TV | STV | $8.38 | 70.67% | -68.94% |
| China Eastern Airlines | CEA | $15.3 | 46.69% | -84.33% |
| China Finance Online | JRJC | $7.03 | 10.71% | -68.05% |
| China Grentech | GRRF | $1.2 | 20.00% | -86.43% |
| China Life Insurance | LFC | $46.4 | 19.65% | -39.35% |
| China Medical Tech | CMED | $20.26 | -1.22% | -54.36% |
| China Mobile | CHL | $50.85 | 10.95% | -41.46% |
| China Nepstar | NPD | $5.05 | 20.24% | -71.27% |
| China Petro & Chemical | SNP | $61.79 | -7.12% | -58.31% |
| China Southern Airlines | ZNH | $8.49 | 32.45% | -87.03% |
| China Sunergy | CSUN | $3.95 | 11.58% | -76.09% |
| China Techfaith | CNTF | $1.28 | 31.96% | -77.93% |
| China Telecom | CHA | $38.05 | 0.00% | -51.26% |
| China Unicom | CHU | $12.2 | -1.21% | -45.54% |
| ChinaEdu | CEDU | $4.9 | 11.87% | -42.35% |
| City Telecom (HK) | CTEL | $2.65 | 17.26% | -53.10% |
| CNinsure | CISG | $8.79 | 15.35% | -45.03% |
| CNOOC | CEO | $95.24 | 16.13% | -43.12% |
| Ctrip.com | CTRP | $23.8 | 2.28% | -58.59% |
| E-House | EJ | $8.1 | 42.11% | -66.01% |
| eLong | LONG | $7.1 | -1.80% | -14.25% |
| Focus Media | FMCN | $9.09 | 21.69% | -84.00% |
| Fuqi International | FUQI | $6.26 | 0.48% | -24.58% |
| Giant Interactive | GA | $6.49 | 6.57% | -50.00% |
| Global Sources | GSOL | $5.45 | -15.63% | -80.71% |
| Guangshen Railway | GSH | $18.84 | 11.48% | -47.14% |
| Gushan Environmental Energy | GU | $1.84 | -14.81% | -80.32% |
| Home Inns & Hotel | HMIN | $8.58 | -5.61% | -75.91% |
| Huaneng Power | HNP | $29.18 | 8.27% | -29.35% |
| Hurray! | HRAY | $1.9 | 18.74% | -52.26% |
| Hutchison Telecomm | HTX | $4.05 | -77.08% | -82.12% |
| JA Solar | JASO | $4.37 | 24.15% | -81.22% |
| Kongzhong | KONG | $3.35 | -2.05% | -44.99% |
| Las Vegas Sands | LVS | $5.93 | 14.70% | -94.25% |
| LDK Solar | LDK | $13.12 | -15.25% | -72.09% |
| Linktone | LTON | $1.2 | 51.90% | -61.17% |
| Longtop Financial Tech. | LFT | $15.12 | 10.36% | -36.15% |
| Melco PBL Entertainment | MPEL | $3.17 | -0.31% | -72.58% |
| Mindray Medical | MR | $18 | -0.44% | -58.11% |
| Netease.com | NTES | $22.1 | 20.11% | 16.56% |
| New Oriental Education | EDU | $54.91 | 6.39% | -31.86% |
| Ninetowns inter | NINE | $0.87 | -26.89% | -72.73% |
| Noah Education* | NED | $3.15 | 15.38% | -60.92% |
| O2Micro International | OIIM | $1.96 | -24.90% | -83.02% |
| Perfect World | PWRD | $17.25 | -1.15% | -38.13% |
| PetroChina | PTR | $88.98 | 7.75% | -49.29% |
| QiaoXing Mobile Comm. | QXM | $2.54 | -1.55% | -69.94% |
| Renesola* | SOL | $4.41 | 27.09% | -66.08% |
| Semiconductor Manufacturing | SMI | $2.11 | 115.31% | -59.34% |
| Shanda Interactive | SNDA | $32.36 | 50.79% | -2.76% |
| Simcere Pharmaceutical | SCR | $7.17 | 0.84% | -48.23% |
| Sina | SINA | $23.15 | -25.08% | -47.74% |
| Sinopec | SHI | $26.16 | 15.34% | -57.16% |
| Sohu.com | SOHU | $47.34 | -2.47% | -13.17% |
| Solarfun Power | SOLF | $5.01 | -11.95% | -84.66% |
| Spreadtrum Communications | SPRD | $0.99 | 35.62% | -91.92% |
| Suntech Power | STP | $11.7 | 37.00% | -85.79% |
| The9 | NCTY | $13.32 | 3.74% | -37.84% |
| Tongjitang Chinese Medicine | TCM | $3 | 27.66% | -69.54% |
| Trina Solar | TSL | $9.29 | -2.31% | -82.73% |
| UTstarcom | UTSI | $1.85 | -2.63% | -32.48% |
| VanceInfo Technologies | VIT | $4.75 | -24.72% | -47.22% |
| Vimicro International | VIMC | $2.19 | 25.86% | -41.76% |
| VisionChina Media | VISN | $5.46 | -19.35% | -35.76% |
| WSP Holdings | WH | $4.22 | 4.46% | -53.63% |
| Wuxi Pharmatech | WX | $7.99 | 33.61% | -72.67% |
| XinHua Finance Media | XFML | $0.62 | -3.13% | -89.67% |
| Xinyuan Real Estate | XIN | $2.44 | 2.09% | -82.85% |
| Yazhou Coal Mining | YZC | $7.52 | 35.99% | -60.83% |
| Yingli Green Energy | YGE | $6.1 | 48.06% | -84.22% |
Looking at the entire year of 2008, only one Chinese ADR had a positive return and that’s Netease.com (NTES) which gained more than 22%. Except a couple of stocks, the rest were down sharply for the year with 55 stocks losing more than half of the value. Among them, the worst performers in 2008 are:
- Las Vegas Sands (LVS): -94.25%
- Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD): -91.92%
- XinHua Finance Media (XFML): -89.67%
- China Southern Airlines (ZNH): -87.03%
- China Grentech (GRRF): -86.43%
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What’s the best way to invest in Chinese stocks which aren’t traded on U.S. exchanges? For example, I’m interested in BYD Company (1211.HK), but can’t buy it through Zecco. Can you offer any suggestions? Or is the fact that I’m asking a clue that I’d be getting in way over my head?