Chinese TCM stocks are next to fly as Beijing touts traditional treatment for Covid-19 symptoms
- Shares of traditional Chinese medicine makers jump after health officials said they can be used to treat Covid-19 symptoms
- Almost all 73 stocks in the sector advanced, with at least five gaining by the daily maximum of 10 per cent
A China Securities index tracking 50 companies in the TCM sector jumped 3.8 per cent on Monday in the biggest advance in nearly 4 weeks. Almost all 73 TCM-related stocks gained, with at least five soaring by the 10 per cent daily limit, according to data provider Eastmoney.
The National Health Commission released a new guideline on Covid-19 treatment last Friday, listing more than 30 TCM products for patients with mild Covid-19 symptoms. Most people will recover within three to five days, officials said.
The effect of Chinese medicine, combined with Western treatment, “has proved to be remarkable in treating symptoms such as fever, sore throat, cough and fatigue,” Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday, citing Liu Qingquan, who is president of the Beijing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicines.
Traders bet on cold medicine, antigen test makers as China ditches zero-Covid
Beijing has tweaked its zero-Covid policy twice within a month, issuing guidelines to local government officials to soften its approach to the zero-Covid regimen. They included scrapping daily mass testing, stringent quarantine rules for positive cases and dropping the use of domestic health codes.
Guizhou Bailing Group Pharmaceutical, Jinghua Pharmaceutical, Dali Pharmaceutical and Shaanxi Panlong Pharmaceutical, whose main products include cold medicines and cough syrups, all jumped by 10 per cent, the most in at least a month.
China reported 8,626 infections on Monday versus 10,597 on Sunday, the health commission said. Confirmed cases have been declining for over a week, even as looser curbs stoked worries about a resurgence in new cases.
Foreign funds praised, panned in China’s trillion-dollar stock market rebound
With daily infection cases sliding from record-high levels of more than 40,000 in late November, authorities are said to be considering lowering Covid-19 from the highest category of infectious diseases.
The rate of serious illness and death of Covid-19 is similar to that of influenza, Cai Weiping, an infectious diseases specialist with the Guangzhou No 8 People’s Hospital, was cited as saying on news portal Cn-healthcare.com.
Yiling Pharmaceutical, Yunnan Baiyao, Pien Tze Huang and Tongrentang, the four biggest TCM index members with a combined weight of 30.7 per cent, gained 1.4 per cent to 4.5 per cent on Monday.