Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Solar stocks led gains among Chinese
equities in New York on prospects expanding global demand for
alternative energy will ignite sales.
The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index of the most-traded
Chinese shares in the U.S. added 0.2 percent to 96.33 yesterday.
LDK Solar Co., the world’s second-largest maker of wafers used
to make solar cells, jumped 13 percent and Yingli Green Energy
Holding Co. surged to the highest level since May. NQ Mobile
Inc., an Internet security company in Beijing, rose to a three-
month high while container ship operator Seaspan Corp. dropped
the most in three months.
Global solar capacity increased beyond 100 gigawatts in
2012, when Germany was the largest solar market with 7.6
gigawatts of new installations, according to a report by
Bloomberg Industries. Wacker Chemie AG, a Munich-based
polysilicon producer, said Feb. 11 that it’s boosting output as
orders from solar makers exceed production. China, the world’s
biggest supplier of solar modules, has provided subsidies and
assistance to manufacturers amid a global supply glut.
“This is a positive sign of a better balance between
supply and demand,” James Kelleher, a director at Argus
Research in New York, said by phone. “The stock market is
always driven by anticipatory impulse and it’ll be a long time
before we get to a point where prices are sufficiently high and
demand is sufficiently good to support profitability for these
companies.”
The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund, the biggest Chinese
exchange-traded fund in the U.S., climbed 0.2 percent to $39.83
in New York, rebounding 0.8 percent from this year’s low on Feb.
7. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent to
1,519.43.
Yingli Jumps
LDK’s American depositary receipts surged 13 percent to
$1.82, the steepest one-day advance since Jan. 3.
Baoding, China-based Yingli, the world’s biggest silicon-
based solar panel maker by capacity, surged 7.1 percent to
$3.49, the highest level since May 14. Suntech Power Holdings
Co., the biggest solar-panel maker globally, climbed 4.6 percent
to $1.59 and Trina Solar Ltd., based in Changzhou in Jiangsu
province, advanced 3.9 percent to $5.37, the most this month.
Polysilicon prices rose above $16 per kilogram last week
for the first time in three months, according to Bloomberg
Industries. Growing demand for solar-energy systems helps drive
up prices, solar research company PV Insights said on its
website Feb. 6. Solar cell prices climbed 0.9 percent from the
previous week and module prices were 0.2 percent higher, the
company said.
‘Solidly Favorable’
NQ Mobile soared 7.6 percent to a three-month high of $6.92
in New York. Trading volume on its ADRs was 1.7 times the daily
average over the past three months, data compiled by Bloomberg
show. 51Job Inc., an online recruiting company based in
Shanghai, advanced 2.8 percent in its third day of gains to
$57.05, the highest close since May 8. The company’s shares have
rallied 22 percent this year.
“Sentiment toward China seems to remain solidly favorable
so far this year,” Alan Wang, a Hong Kong-based portfolio
manager at Principal Global Investors, which manages $281.5
billion including Chinese stocks, said by e-mail yesterday.
“The fund inflows have been at very strong levels recently, for
China equities, Asian equities and global emerging markets
equities in general.”
Seaspan, a Hong Kong-based shipping company, slumped 2.4
percent to $19.2 in New York in its fourth day of declines, the
biggest retreat in three months. Trading volume on its shares
reached 1.9 times the three-month average, Bloomberg data show.
Container Rates
Container ship rates have fallen 15.4 percent since a June
5 peak and are 9 percent lower from a year earlier, Bloomberg
Industries analyst Lee Klaskow said yesterday, adding that rates
will continue to decline should the container shipping market
remain above capacity.
Hong Kong’s stock market is closed until today for the
Chinese New Year holiday, while trading in Shanghai will resume
Feb. 18. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slumped 4.6
percent last week, while the Shanghai Composite Index of
domestic Chinese shares added 0.6 percent in a second straight
week of gains.
