SHANGHAI: Chinese investors dumped tourism stocks and bought drugmakers and facial mask producers as coronavirus spread to more cities, raising concerns of its containment and clouding travel plans of millions of Chinese for the Chinese New Year holiday.
Major hotel operators BTG Hotels Group Co and Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co tumbled more than 7 per cent on Monday morning, while tourism company Songcheng Performance Development Co slumped more than 8 per cent. The stock-picking pattern is similar to the one observed during the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, but future trends hinge on whether the virus could be contained."If you look at how investors reacted to SARS, today's outbreak certainly gives a short-term boost to drugmakers and facial mask producers," said Wu Kan, head of equity trading at Shanghai-based Shanshan Finance.
Brokerage firm Guolian Securities identified biotech firms, including Autobio Diagnostics and Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech Co, as beneficiaries from the epidemic.