Portfolio.com
China Muzzles its Money Managers
Wednesday July 30, 8:30 am ET

If you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all.
That's a fine motto to live by socially, but it takes on a whole new meaning when it's directed at money managers by China's securities regulators.

The China Securities and Regulatory Commission, which is that country's version of the Securities and Exchange Commission, recently ordered domestic fund managers to avoid saying anything negative about Chinese stocks. The missive is part of a broad effort by the Chinese government to maintain stability in its financial markets ahead of the Olympics.

"We want to remind all the fund companies to strengthen your management of external comments to produce and maintain the good image of the fund industry," the C.S.R.C. statement read.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has lost half its value since the start of this year.

This isn't the first time the government has muzzled the naysayers. In May it ordered money managers to avoid unloading stocks after the devastating earthquake.

But Chinese investors aren't so easily fooled by the sudden absence of any negative commentary. The benchmark index has fallen slightly since the order was issued.

Earlier this month, the regulator asked some senior fund managers to avoid overseas travel before and during the Olympic games and to be sure the C.S.R.C. can reach them at all times, according to a report by Dow Jones.

How do these money managers feel about being told to keep quiet? Some of them spoke anonymously with the South China Morning Post about their frustration. "The regulator has been harping on about discipline for ages," said one fund manager, who noted that the wording of the statement revealed the regulator's nervousness. "Somehow, we have to shut up to avoid unnecessary trouble due to the warning."

According to the paper, the securities regulator also required four financial newspapers to publish upbeat reports about the market. Already, the Xinhua news agency obeyed orders. "If prices fall to a certain level, stocks must be undervalued and a rally will follow," it wrote.

So what will Chinese stocks really end up doing this year? Roth Capital Partners' Donald Straszheim thinks they won't move much for a while. "The widespread view that Chinese equities will fall after the Olympics is likely to keep investors cautious until there is greater clarity on China's economy, on the U.S.-Europe-Japan economies and markets, and on the credit market problems and on oil and energy," he wrote in a report yesterday.