China STAR Market stocks lose trader interest as ‘temporary craziness’ wears off, curbs kick in
- As of Monday, the original 25 STAR stocks have a 20 per cent maximum up or down limit
- Last week, with no brakes, one stock shot up 520 per cent at one point

China’s new tech board saw one of its first 25 listed companies soar by as much as 520 per cent in trading last week. Now, as curbs on daily gains or losses kick in, investors have lost a lot of their appetite.
“We have seen so many things like this happen before. There was a kind of euphoria last week, and if you build a stock to a sky high level, in the near term there is bound to be profit-taking, or a slowdown,” said Louis Tse Ming-kwong, managing director of VC Asset Management.
“We have to face reality. Investors in China realise this: It is temporary speculation and a short-term increase because of a new board promoted by the president of China. That doesn’t mean every one of [the companies] has good earnings prospects.”
Tse calls last week’s trading “temporary craziness.”
China’s stock markets are often likened to casinos, and last week’s frenzied trading showed why.