Chinese Stocks Have Become Less Volatile Than Their U.S. Peers

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. equities have become wilder than their Chinese peers.

Realized 60-day volatility in the CSI 300 Index of Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks fell to 14 at the end of last month, compared with 15.6 for the S&P 500 Index. China’s financial markets were closed for the first week of October.

While Chinese trading became subdued in the run-up to the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic on Oct. 1, U.S. traders were gripped by concerns over a possible impeachment of President Donald Trump and weaker economic data.

Investors in China are increasingly taking a longer-term view and tuning out the everyday trade war noise, said Gerry Alfonso, director of international business department at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co. “This can mean narrower price swings than some people are expecting for quite some time.”

How long this current phase of relative calm will last is hard to tell. In the past decade, volatility in the CSI 300 Index has been on average 8.3 points higher than for the S&P 500.

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.