It used to be so simple. Buy construction machinery makers when China booms, and sell on the whiff of a slowdown. Few sectors have been so closely tied to government economic boosters because of Beijing’s dependence on infrastructure spending to deliver growth. Yet as the new leadership focuses on consumption as well as urbanisation, at the same time as steady rather than breakneck growth, the sector is harder to call. The allegation this week of accounting fraud at Zoomlion has shaken confidence.
過去事情就是這麼簡單。在中國經濟蓬勃發展時買進建築機械製造商的股票,一旦察覺到中國經濟要放緩就拋出這類股票。由於中國政府依賴基礎設施支出實現經濟成長,幾乎沒有一個行業與政府經濟推手的關係如此密切。然而,隨著新一屆領導層把注意力放在消費和城市化以及平穩(而非高速)成長方面,該行業前景變得更難以逆料。本週,中聯重科(Zoomlion)涉嫌會計欺詐的指控打擊了市場信心。