HONG KONG -- As the Chinese economic recovery faltered this year, foreign investors gravitated to the shares of state-owned enterprises, reckoning that the Beijing-controlled companies were their best hope during the uncertain period that followed the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
The strategy appeared to work for a time but has run out of steam in recent weeks as the economic news coming out of China has grown more dismal, with the latest example being Wednesday's report that factory activity in Asia's largest economy fell in May.
