October 30, 2010 (Chinavestor) – Heading into this week, few investors and traders would have been surprised to see stocks in China and the U.S. take a bit of a break before next week's mid-term elections and Federal Reserve meeting and that's exactly what the markets did. The Hang Seng Index (INDEXHANGSENG:.HSI) tumbled nearly 2% while the Shanghai Composite Index (SHA:000001) barely blipped with a gain of just 0.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.3% for the week. A gain of 6.2% for American Express (NYSE:AXP) may have you thinking it was a good week for financials. Alas, it was not, especially in China. Four of the five worst performers in Shanghai were financials, including China Life Insurance (NYSE:LFC) and rival Ping An (SHA:601318).
China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH), the largest domestic carrier, was among the works performing components of the 42 member Hang Seng Index (INDEXHANGSENG:.HSI) as the stock succumbed to profit taking after a 30% plus run earlier in October. Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE:ACH) and E-House Holdings (NYSE:EJ) were among the weakest stocks for the week among stocks with market cap over $250 million. But investors snapped up assets from the online game sector ahead of earnings. Perfect World (NASDAQ:PWRD) was the best but Giant Interactive (NYSE:GA) and NetEase.com Inc (NASDAQ:NTES) followed it closely. China Grentech (Nasdaq:GRRF) shocked investors with a 60% gain on Thursday but lost support and fell back 15% the next day.
Earnings news hammered the likes of Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Merck (NYSE:MRK) and 3M (NYSE:MMM) in the States, while BYD Co. (HKG:1211) suffered a similar fate in Hong Kong.
Looking at the large-caps, Perfect World (Nasdaq:PWRD) led the way with a weekly run of over 15.5%, but that was thanks to rival Sohu.com's (Nasdaq:SOHU) bullish earnings report that lifted that stock to a gain of 13.3%. China Yuchai (NYSE:CYD) and New Oriental Education (NYSE:EDU) both added more than 8.8% for the week.
Silvercorp Metals (NYSE:SVM) was solid with a gain of nearly 7.5% and Melco Crown Entertainment (Nasdaq:MPEL) was in the mix with a pop of almost 6.3%. LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) was the solar winner for the week with an addition of almost 6.3%. Giant Interactive (NYSE:GA) was the only other large-cap to gain more than 6%. NetEase.com Inc. (Nasdaq:NTES) and Synutra (Nasdaq:SYUT) both tacked on more than 5% to round out the large-cap winners.
JA Solar (Nasdaq:JASO) and Suntech Power (NYSE:STP) couldn't duplicate LDK Solar's (NSYE:LDK) success as those names lost 1.77% and 2.4%, respectively. It was a bad week to dial up Chinese telecom stocks as China Unicom (NYSE:CHU) lost nearly 3% and China Telecom (NYSE:CHA) slipped by 2.2%.
PetroChina's (NYSE:PTR) earnings were good, but not good enough to stem an almost 2% decline. China Life Insurance (NYSE:LFC) and E-House (NYSE:EJ) both lost about 5% while Aluminum Corp. of China (NYSE:ACH) was punished by a weak profit update that sent the shares down by almost 5.3%. China Southern (NYSE:ZNH) was more than 30% for October until this week when profit-taking took over and the stock tumbled by 9.4%.
It was an exciting week for small-caps, particularly China Grentech (Nasdaq:GRRF), which surged nearly 30%.. In reality, that move isn't that impressive when considering the stock was up more than 60% on Thursday, but proceeded to slide by more than 15% on Friday.
M&A news sent BMP Sunstone (Nasdaq:BJGP) higher by more than 26%. China Integrated Energy (Nasdaq:CBEH) and China Nepstar Chain Drugstore (NYSE:NPD) both added more than 13% for the week. China Natural Resources (Nasdaq:CHNR) surged more than 11% on no news while a nice earnings update helped AirMedia (Nasdaq:AMCN) to a gain of nearly 11%.
3SBio (Nasdaq:SSRX) popped 10.8% and Agria (Nasdaq:GRO) jumped 9.6%. China Gerui Advanced Materials (Nasdaq:CHOP) and China Sky One Medical (Nasdaq:CSKI) both added over 8% to cap the winners.
China Green Agriculture (NYSE:CGA) plunged 15% on some legal issues and news of possible securities fraud. GigaMedia (Nasdaq:GIGM) slipped by almost 11% on no news, a very bearish sign indeeed. UTStarcom (Nasdaq:UTSI) and VisionChina Media (Nasdaq:VISN) both shed more than 9% for the week.
China Technology Development (Nasdaq:CTDC) gave up 8% while China Digital TV (NYSE:STV) and China TransInfo Technology (Nasdaq:CTFO) both gave up more than 6%. Noah Education (NYSE:NED) and Zhongpin (Nasdaq:HOGS) continue to be favorite targets of the bears, declining by more than 5% each. China Fire & Security Group (Nasdaq:CFSG) is the last of the 10 biggest small-cap losers with a loss of 4.9%.
If you like us, spread the word to the fellow investors on your favorite Social Bookmarking websites
