Hong Kong-based Ming Pao has apparently found the root of China’s stock market massacre – and no, it’s not margin traders deleveraging – it’s none other than billionaire speculator George Soros.
According to Zero Hedge, the newspaper blamed the palindrome for inciting the crisis by shorting A-shares together with his cadre of nefarious market participants.
Here’s a Google translated version of what the newspaper had to say:
“George Soros sold short A-share stock market decline to stick to the mainland
Failure to stick to the mainland stock market, the People’s Bank’s foreign hostile newspapers are suggesting that the initiator of short selling, the market rumors about George Soros and other short-selling A shares participate more rampant. In this round of decline in the futures market short is particularly evident, leaving the market to target the foreign capital. So foreign is really caused by the collapse of the culprit it?
Soros have taken rumored sell A shares.”
This isn’t the first time Soros got the blame for a market collapse. Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad held him largely responsible for the 1997 Asian economic crisis and large market routs in Indonesia were attributed to him during the same time.
Basing purely on size, the notion that Soros precipitated the selloff using Quantum’s tens of billions is actually sound – and quite profitable given the Shanghai Index’s over 30% drop since middle of last month.
Now if they can only explain how a foreigner gets to sell A-Shares…
Photo credit: International Monetary Fund via Flickr