An investor looks at stock price figures in Shanghai on February 18. China's CSI 300 index has fallen 15% since then. © Getty Images

Bulls and bears tussle as China's stock markets stumble

Long-term potential clouded by tighter liquidity and curbs on tech sector

NARAYANAN SOMASUNDARAM, Nikkei Asia chief banking and financial correspondent

April 19, 2021 05:55 JST

HONG KONG -- Chinese stocks are displaying a contradiction. How is it that a market on which so many fund managers are so persistently bullish has plunged toward correction territory?

The CSI 300 index, which tracks the biggest shares traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, climbed 27% in 2020 -- showing the impetus expected from the world's only big economy to grow during a pandemic-hit year.