Traders Dream Of a U.S.-China Green Deal

From the WSJ's RealTimeChinaReport (Nov. 13, sorry):

While few expect concrete progress will be made during President Barack Obama’s visit to China starting Sunday, China’s stock dealing rooms were bubbling with Obama-themed trades Friday, leading to strength in new energy companies and a surge in U.S. dollar- or Hong Kong dollar- denominated B shares.

As part of his week-long Asia tour, Obama’s trip to China will include meetings with China President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Climate change issues and China’s currency policy are expected to figure prominently on the agenda.

On Friday, clean energy related companies were among some of the best performers. Solar energy play Shenzhen Topraysolar rose 1.7%, while Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric was up 1.9%. Chemical company Zhejiang Juhua Co. also rose 1.8%. All three surpassed the benchmark Shanghai Composite, which ended up 0.5% at 3187.65 Friday....MORE

The RTCR followed up this morning with:

Obama China Visit Drives Up Green Stocks

President Barack Obama’s visit might not be of much importance to your average Beijinger. But his visit has driven up prices of what the media has coined as “Obama concept stocks,” stocks related to the White House’s environmental agenda....MORE

And three hours later:

Obama Factor Hits Stocks Again

In China’s notoriously liquidity-driven, detached-from-fundamentals stock market, anything can be an excuse for speculators to drive prices up or down – not least a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Despite the ominous prospect of growing trade frictions between the U.S. and China, Chinese investors looked determined to focus on the short term and pushed the country’s main stock indexes sharply up again today, hours into Obama’s visit to China.

While the President was advocating an unshackled Internet to a group of carefully selected Chinese students in Shanghai, China’s often apolitical investors were busy pouring money into renewable-energy stocks as they cited climate change as one of the major topics during talks Obama will discuss with Chinese President Hu Jintao during his visit....MORE