Rogers Says Not to Give up on Chinese Shares

Jim Rogers, who in April 2006 correctly predicted oil would reach US$100 a barrel and gold US$1,000 an ounce, told investors not to give up on Chinese shares after the country's stock index fell almost 50 percent this year.

Start buying when others say 'never again', Rogers, 65, said last Saturday at an investor conference in Nanjing. There is much money to be made from investments in Chinese stocks, he said.

China's CSI 300 Index has slumped 52 percent from its October 16 peak on concern government measures to curb consumer prices will hurt earnings growth. Rogers, who first started buying Chinese stocks in 1999, said he hasn't sold any of his holdings.

It's still a growth story in China, said Andrew Sullivan, a sales trader at Mainfirst Securities Hong Kong Ltd. It still has a good manufacturing industry.

China's economy expanded 10.6 percent in the first quarter even as export growth cooled and industrial companies' profit growth slowed as oil and gas costs surged. Chinese stocks slumped last Friday on speculation the government will increase interest rates to help tame inflation, Bloomberg News said.

Rogers told Chinese investors that the current correction is "the way the market works, and they shouldn't be a market timer trying to figure out when is the bottom. You should get in at a time like now, Rogers said. I'm starting to think about buying again." He said he'd be investing in China for the rest of the century.

About 200 people - a full house - paid as much as 50,000 yuan (US$7,300) to hear Rogers speak at the two-hour event.

Investors should also learn about commodities, Rogers said. Oil prices, which reached a record in New York trading last Friday, will go higher, he said.

The oil price will rise, unless someone finds a major oil field very quickly, in accessible areas, Rogers said.

Crude oil for August delivery rose to a record close of US$140.21 a barrel last Friday.

Source: CRIEnglish