Metallurgical, Sinopharm IPOs attract investors

It has been a good year for stock markets in the People’s Republic. While down from its near-3,500-point highs, the Shanghai Composite Index is still up about 66% this year, and both on the mainland and in Hong Kong, companies are eager to get back in the IPO game. The performance of Metallurgical Corp. of China and Sinopharm Group, which have raised a combined US$3.5 billion through their IPOs in Hong Kong, will no doubt increase that eagerness. As one analyst said, "With the kind of sentiment in the market at the moment, (investors) will go after the IPO of any company with a decent track record." Also doing well is Dalian suit maker Dayang Trands, shares of which jumped 229% in Shanghai after the company received an endorsement from no less than Warren Buffett. Expect a deluge of Dayang Trands knock-offs in shopping centers around China. Investors aren’t just going after stocks: It seems that many speculators, including, inexplicably, pig farmers, are stockpiling copper as an investment as global prices of the metal soar. China’s pig farmers haven’t been known in the past for their skill in forecasting future prices (see last year’s pork shortages), so we’ll see how that one works out.