Stocks News
- Stocks too high, Li Ka-shing says
Date: 18-May-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
STOCK valuations on the mainland are 'too high'' at 50 to 60 times earnings and prices are likely to decline, according to Li Ka-shing, the world's ninth-richest man.
'There must be a bubble,'' Li, 78, said Thursday at a press briefing in Hong Kong following the annual general meeting of Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., his flagship property company. 'As a Chinese, I'm worried about the stock market on the mainland.''
The benchmark CSI 300 Index, which tracks yuan-denominated shares listed on the nation's two exchanges, has jumped 85 percent this year, closing at a record Thursday.
Investors in Hong Kong and across Asia look to Li, known as 'Superman'' in Hong Kong for a sense of where economic growth and stock markets are headed because his companies invest in businesses ranging from supermarkets to shopping malls, apartment buildings and ports.
Li joins central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan in expressing concern about the rally, which has made the mainland's stocks the most expensive among the world's major markets. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Credit Suisse Group analysts have in the past week said Chinese shares may face a correction.
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