HSBC: H-shares to outperform region

The chief Asian equity analyst for HSBC said investors should favor Chinese H-shares because the country’s economic growth means enterprises will perform better than most in the region, Bloomberg reported. Garry Evans said that earnings for companies on the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index will be down just 5% for 2009. That compares with a projected 15% decline for all Asian companies outside of Japan that HSBC tracks. The H-share index fell 51% in 2008, its worst annual performance since at least 1994. The Hang Seng Index fell 48% during the same period, its biggest decline since 1974. Evans named Industrial & Commercial Bank of China and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) as two of his top H-share picks.