Goldman Sachs and a research boutique have constructed a “synthetic” way for investors to bet more cheaply against Chinese stocks.
China’s equity market is one of the biggest in the world, with the main CSI 300 index boasting an overall market capitalisation of $4.5tn. But “shorting”, or taking negative bets on the stocks, is tricky, as the costs and regulations involved are too onerous.
Quant Insight, a London-based research group, has therefore built a basket of about 40 US stocks with Chinese exposure designed to closely mirror the performance of China’s CSI 300 benchmark. Goldman Sachs has added the index to Marquee, its digital platform, which means it can sell clients derivatives known as total return swaps based on the basket.