A scramble for Chinese equities united the global investment industry last month, just as attitudes towards European and Japanese stock markets became heavily bifurcated along geographical lines.

Despite strong domestic enthusiasm, foreign exchange traded fund investors turned their backs on European and Japanese stock markets in September.

Yet global investors were unified in their enthusiasm for Chinese stocks after the People’s Bank of China unveiled a series of stimulus measures that included monetary easing, steps to support the country’s crisis-hit property market and a Rmb800bn fund to boost the stock market, by lending to asset managers, insurers and brokers to buy equities and to listed companies to buy back their stock.

The war chest expanded on the activities of China’s “national team” of sovereign wealth funds, most prominently Central Huijin Investment, which have ploughed billions of renminbi into domestic equity ETFs over the past 12 months in a bid to boost the onshore A-share market and rekindle investor confidence.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 index of Shanghai and Shenzhen-listed companies responded by jumping 32 per cent in the space of two weeks, before slipping back 7 per cent on Wednesday. Despite the rally, the blue-chip index still remains 32 per cent below its February 2021 peak.

Overseas ETF investors played their part, launching a buying spree that represented a dramatic volte-face.

In the final four trading days of September, investors pumped $1.6bn into US-listed exchange traded funds focused on China while similar funds listed in Europe pulled in $753mn, according to data from TrackInsight.

This was a sharp contrast to the pattern seen so far this year: in the near-nine months to September 24, US investors withdrew a net $5.1bn from China-focused ETFs while their European counterparts cut their exposure by $331mn.

The newfound inflows, however, remain dwarfed by domestic flows. Asia-Pacific listed China equity ETFs have vacuumed up a net $127bn so far this year, according to data from BlackRock. The vast majority of this is likely to have stemmed from ETFs listed in China itself, in part due to the machinations of the national team.

Despite the U-turn in ETF flows, enthusiasm in some quarters towards Chinese equities remains tempered.

The BlackRock Investment Institute moved from a neutral position to a “modestly overweight” view on China in the wake of the stimulus announcement, magnified by the onshore A-shares market’s lower valuation than developed market equities.  

However, it said it remained “cautious long term given China’s structural challenges” and was “ready to pivot” to a gloomier view if deemed necessary.

Rony Abboud of TrackInsight cautioned that regulatory risks from both US regulators — in respect of security and audit concerns — and their Chinese counterparts — given their past crackdowns on big tech — “are still major factors” in many investors thinking.

Moreover, “there’s scepticism about the long-term impact of the recent stimulus. While it may ease short-term pressures, it’s not seen as enough for a strong recovery without further fiscal support,” Abboud added.

“Time will tell if the bounce was a short squeeze or a sustainable rally,” said Matthew Bartolini, head of Americas ETF research at State Street Global Advisors, given that short interest in China-focused single-country ETFs “had been elevated” beforehand and trailing three-month inflows “the worst they had ever been entering September”.

Any semblance of global consensus was conspicuous by its absence elsewhere, however.

European investors remain upbeat about their own equity markets, pumping $6.6bn into ETFs focused on the region in the past three months, according to the BlackRock data. In contrast, US investors are unconvinced, with further selling in September taking three-month outflows from European equity ETFs to $2.7bn.

A similar picture has emerged in Japan, where Asia-Pacific investors have ploughed $9.3bn into Tokyo-focused ETFs in the past two months, even as US and European investors have withdrawn $4.6bn.

“Japan and Europe have a very strong home bias. International investment in both these markets has dropped off,” said Karim Chedid, head of investment strategy for BlackRock’s iShares arm in the Emea region.

In Japan’s case, Chedid said this was because “the domestic investor is still early in the journey of buying their own market. They have been sitting in cash: when Japan was in deflation they did not need to buy equities,” a development he saw as structural.

In contrast, some foreign investors saw “more headwinds coming from the Bank of Japan [being] expected to continue normalising its policy,” by nudging its still ultra-low policy rate a little higher.

As for Europe, Chedid said “if you look at the macro[economic] picture we have seen in the last month, Europe macro start to disappoint and US macro start to surprise on the upside.

“I think that has driven a bit of a wedge towards investors’ sentiment towards Europe in the last month, but the European investor is still buying lots of European equities, particularly taking the view that the European Central Bank is going to accelerate its rate cuts”, something that would be “a tailwind for the European equity market”.

Overall monthly inflows into the global ETF industry hit $141bn in September, according to BlackRock, up from $129bn in August, keeping it on course to smash all records this year.

Equity ETFs accounted for $102bn of these inflows led, as ever, by US-focused funds, which took in $57bn.

Fixed income flows slowed to $34.6bn while commodity ETFs attracted $1.7bn, led by gold funds which have now seen inflows for five straight months — although they still remain in net outflow territory for the year.

Chedid attributed the revival of interest in gold among ETF investors to rising geopolitical volatility alongside a backdrop of falling global interest rates — traditionally helpful to a non-yielding asset.

A UK airport has ditched some of its much-hated security rules.

Bournemouth Airport passengers will be able to keep more of their items in their luggage when travelling through.

2

Most airports still require travellers to take both laptops and liquids out of their bags when going through security. 

This can result in much longer queues especially at peak times.

However, the small UK airport has said that this is no longer the case.

Instead, they can both remain in any luggage going through the scanners.

An statement released by the airport reads: “Bournemouth Airport has completed the process of installing and testing new security screening equipment to improve passenger security.

“For hand luggage this means that with immediate effect, passengers flying from Bournemouth Airport can now leave Liquids and large electrical items such as laptops in their cabin baggage.

“Passengers flying from Bournemouth Airport will no longer need to present liquids separately in a clear plastic bag however, liquids are still restricted to containers of up to 100ml.”

Sun Travel has contacted Bournemouth Airport for comment.

The current liquid rules remain in place across the UK which is that all liquids must be under 100ml, and all fit into a small plastic bag.

This had hoped to be scrapped earlier this year across the UK.

Despite a number of UK airports scrapping the rules, the government u-turned just days later.

There is no confirmed date when this will be lifted again.

When it is, Brits will be able to take as much as 2l of liquids in their hand luggage without restriction.

And holidaymakers will still have to check the rules when going abroad.

Other airports who don’t follow the rules will require tourists to still carry liquids under 100ml.

But there is even better news for Bournemouth Airport, with Jet2 launching 16 new routes from the airport next year.

Spanish destinations will include the Alicante, Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Tenerife.

Corfu, Heraklion, Rhodes and Zante in Greece will also be added, as well as Turkey‘s Antalya and Dalaman, along with Faro and Funchal in Portugal.

And the airport has revealed plans for a £5million expansion, with predictions to welcome a record one million passengers.

Here is a clever way to swerve the liquids restrictions.

And we’ve reviewed the best hand luggage bags that people rave about for avoiding baggage fees.

2

Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) provider BareRock has launched a counselling and wellbeing support programme for its advice firm policyholders.

The programme aims to support the mental health and wellbeing of individuals within BareRock’s club member firms who are dealing with the strain of high-stress complaint situations, by covering the costs of professional counselling.

Under the new initiative, BareRock will fund up to 10 one-hour counselling sessions per claim, subject to a £2,000 cap, with no policy excess payable by the club member firm.

This is designed to help business owners, senior leaders and employees who often find themselves directly involved in managing complex and pressure-filled complaints while juggling multiple responsibilities in highly regulated businesses.

The initiative will be incorporated into BareRock’s offering at no extra cost during the last quarter of 2024.

It will be available to existing and new policyholders.

The news was announced on World Mental Health Day today (10 October).

BareRock CEO and founder Jonathan Newell said: “We are constantly seeking ways to enhance our offering and provide meaningful value to our club members where it’s needed most.

“By offering compassionate support on a human level, alongside technical and strategic assistance during complaint situations, we can help our club members better manage the emotional and mental toll of dealing with stressful complaint situations.

“This mental health and wellbeing support is a great demonstration of our commitment to our customers and to the FCA’s vulnerable customers guidance.”

BareRock’s counselling services aim to support individuals as they navigate the challenges of their roles.

The programme helps develop strategies for better stress management, work-life balance and mental-health prioritisation.

Corporate Personal Wellbeing (CPW) is BareRock’s preferred partner in delivering these professional counselling sessions.

Good morning. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. In the first round of the Conservative leadership election, moderate candidates between them got the votes of 65 MPs — more than enough to guarantee passage to the final round.

Now, in a shock result, Conservative members will choose from two candidates drawn from the right of the party, after James Cleverly went out in the fourth ballot (37 votes, down two from the previous round), meaning that Kemi Badenoch (42 votes, up 12) will face Robert Jenrick (41 votes, up 10).

Alan Watkins, my most illustrious predecessor as political editor at the New Statesman, gifted the political world a number of phrases. “The chattering classes”, “the men in grey suits”, that sort of thing.

It was he who coined the phrase “the most sophisticated electorate in the world” to describe the parliamentary Labour party, and not, as it is often misattributed to, the parliamentary Conservative party. He gave the group the title because Labour MPs — between electing their leader, the shadow cabinet, their various standing committees and whatnot — were then voting all the time. He was not thinking of the Conservative party, which at the time he coined it had voted in just one leadership election: the 1965 one in which they chose Ted Heath over Reggie Maudling.

If one mark of “sophistication” is how often your MPs have to vote, one thing we can say is that it seems likely that Tory MPs will become more and more sophisticated over the next few years.

Some thoughts on how it happened below.

Blue in the face

How did James Cleverly go from leading the third ballot to finishing third place in the fourth?

Some Tory MPs, thinking that Cleverly was a lock for the final round, voted tactically, either for their preferred second option to create a “win-win” final ballot or for the one they judged weaker in order to ease their man’s path to the leadership. Cleverly’s campaign are denying that they were involved in any “official” attempt to shape the ballot, while others are suggesting that supporters of Badenoch or Jenrick might have been moving their vote around.

Silly games from the Badenoch campaign seem unlikely in the extreme to me, given we have good reason to believe she will win regardless and her biggest problem has always been demonstrating that she has a base within the parliamentary party. Silly games from the Jenrick campaign are a touch more likely, but very high risk and this isn’t the contest they would want.

Essentially it means that we have a ballot that suits nobody, other than perhaps Keir Starmer. Jenrick faces a candidate whom every poll and scrap of data indicates he will be heavily defeated by. Cleverly is out of the contest in humiliating circumstances. And Badenoch, who should once again be seen as the frontrunner, will probably become leader with the support of just 42 MPs and even that lowly number will come with an unhelpful asterisk by it.

So why do I say “perhaps Keir Starmer”? Yes, it is superficially great news for the Labour party that the largest opposition party’s MPs have sat down, had a big think, and ended up eliminating the candidates whose public favourability didn’t get downgraded after the Conservative party conference.

Conservative members will now have a choice between two flavours of “we lost because we weren’t rightwing enough”, usually something an opposition party tells itself right before it loses another election.

But the reason why I don’t think it is good news for Starmer is I think governments themselves are poorly served when the opposition goes off on its own strange journey, and there is no guarantee that a crisis, whether externally or of Labour’s making, might not hand power to its opponents anyway.

A date for your diaries: On the Friday after Labour’s Budget, my colleagues Lucy Fisher, Sam Fleming, Soumaya Keynes and Robert Shrimsley will debate what it means for the UK’s economic prospects in a lunchtime webinar. Free for subscribers to join here.

Now try this

I saw Caroline Shaw and the Kamus String Quartet at Wigmore Hall last night. They were really very brilliant, largely playing pieces from her record Evergreen, which you can listen to on Spotify here and Apple Music here. She’s the standout American classical composer of her generation, I think. Every piece of music we’ve recommended in all its, uh, eclectic glory is here and I promise I will get my act together and create an Apple Music one soon.

Top stories today

• Ducking questions | Keir Starmer has opened the door to a multibillion-pound increase in employer national insurance contributions in this month’s Budget. Labour’s manifesto appeared to rule out an increase in national insurance, but yesterday the prime minister refused to exclude increasing the rate paid by employers, as opposed to employees.

• Sickness drives rise in ‘inactive’ young Britons | The UK is grappling with a concerning rise in youth inactivity, with the number of people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training rising almost a quarter since 2022 to more than 870,000.

• Free to go | Rachel Reeves has ruled out imposing an exit tax on wealthy people leaving the UK to dodge higher taxes in this month’s Budget, as business braces itself for a rise in the levy on capital gains.

• Fire away | UK bosses will be able to fire new recruits after a warning of poor performance during a nine-month probation period, in a last-minute concession to business that will soften the impact of Labour’s flagship reforms to workers’ rights. 

• ‘The mayors hate it’ | Labour mayors are heading for a clash with the Treasury on housing, jobs and transport, reports the i’s Kitty Donaldson. Some mayors say the Treasury is hoarding power by putting national priorities for growth and jobs creation ahead of giving local leaders control.

THOUSANDS of households will soon receive letters confirming their entitlement to a £300 cash boost.

The Winter Fuel Payment is a state benefit paid once a year to pensioners to help cover the costs of heating during the colder months.

1

It was avaible to everyone aged 66 and over but recent cuts made by Chancellor Rachel Reeve mean only those on means-tested benefits, such as Pension Credit, will now get the help.

How much you recieve also depends on what year you were born.

For example, if you live alone you will get £200 if you were born between September 23 1944 and September 22 1958.

But you will get £300 if you live alone and were born before 23 September 1944.

If you and your partner jointly claim any of the benefits, one of you will get a payment of either:

• £200 if one or both of you were born between September 23 1944 and September 22 1958
• £300 if one or both of you were born before September 23 1944

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will begin sending letters to pensioners who quailfy for the payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. by the end of October.

For customers in Scotland the target date for issuing the letters will be in November.

All quailfying pensioners across the UK should recieve their payment of either £200 or £300 by November or December.

The money is paid automatically in your bank account.

If you do not get a letter or the money has not been paid into your account by January 29 2025 it is recomennded you get in contact with the Winter Fuel Payment Centre.

This is operated by the DWP and can reached on the telephone by calling 0800 731 0160.

You can also send a letter via the psot to Winter Fuel Payment Centre. Mail Handling Site A, Wolverhampton, WV98 1LR.

When you contact the payment centre, you’ll need to tell them your personal details like:

• Your name
• Your address
• Your date of birth
• Your National Insurance number

Who is eligble for the Winter Fuel Payment

You will receive the Winter Fuel Payment if you are aged 66 or above and on any of the following benefits.

• Pension Credit
• Universal Credit
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• Income Support
• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit

You may also recieve the benefit if you are a UK pensioner who lives abroad.

A partner below the state pension age may also be eligible for the £300 payment if they live with a partner who is over state pension age and they jointly claim benefits.

It is worth noting that around 800,000 older ­people risk missing out on the £300 Winter Fuel Payment because they have not first registered for Pension Credit.

The benefit is a weekly payment from the government to those over the state pension age who have an income below a certain level.

If your claim is successful then the benefit will top up your income to £218.15 a week if you are single, or £11,343.80 a year.

It will also give you access to the Winter Fuel Payment.

You will need to have been claiming Pension Credit in the ‘qualifying week’ of September 16 to 22, 2024.

But claims can be backdated by three months meaning you have until December 21 to make a claim and still get the Winter Fuel Payment.

If you want to check your eligibility then it is worth checking out our article here.

You can also find free-to-use online benefits calculators to work out what you’re entitled to.

For example, Age UK has an online calculator which helps you work out what benefits you could be entitled to including the Winter Fuel Payment and Pension Credit.

According to the site it takes 10 minutes to complete and you will need the following information:

• Your savings
• Your income, including your partner’s if you have one
• Any benefits or pensions you’re already claiming, including anyone you’re living with.

The calculator is free to use and confidential.