French asset manager Amundi has largely cashed out of China’s September equity rally, reallocating more of its holdings to dividend stocks amid lingering doubts about the country’s economic outlook.
The European firm, which manages €2.3 trillion (US$2.7 trillion) in assets, had trimmed positions in “overvalued” Chinese stocks while selectively increasing exposure to onshore shares over Hong Kong-listed equities given their valuation gap, said Philippe d’Orgeval, the firm’s deputy group chief investment officer, in an interview. It also added dividend-paying stocks through the CSI 300 Dividend Index.
“If there is a correction, that could be an opportunity to add back,” he said. “But in the macro context, tariffs are still not really settled. Our reading today is that the macro environment will be a bit less supportive for the equity markets.”
His comments echo scepticism in parts of the market that remain unconvinced China’s rebound is sustainable. Despite an 18 per cent surge in the main benchmark CSI 300 Index this year – driven largely by AI enthusiasm – concerns persist that the rally may have run ahead of fundamentals and that valuations have become too high. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index has risen nearly 7 per cent in September alone.
Dividend stocks have traditionally served as safe havens. But with enthusiasm surging around sectors like AI, semiconductors and electric vehicles, investors in Chinese equities have rotated out of high-yield names into areas with greater perceived upside.
D’Orgeval said he remained open to rebuilding China exposure. If conditions shifted away from his current view of a less supportive environment, “we’ll then call for a change of positioning”, he said.
