The Chinese mainland markets experienced a cautious session on Monday, influenced by diplomatic tensions with Japan and mixed reactions to U.S. reassurances about a potential rare earth deal, said a market analyst.
Chinese stocks closed lower on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.46 percent to 3,972.03 points.
The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.11 percent lower at 13,202 points.
Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN), highlighted the trend behind the numbers in his recap of China's stock market performance.
"The Chinese mainland markets had a bit of an off session today with the Shanghai Composite Index sinking about half of one percent. There was an overall sense of caution. We saw some diplomatic tensions flaring between China and Japan the weekend over a speech the new Japanese Prime Minister made in parliament. And investors took the opportunity to lock in some profits after that. So shares with exposure to Japan were the biggest losers, but even recent winners like the rare earth sector were pretty flat today. And that was even though the U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying that there will hopeful be a China-U.S. deal on the rare earths by the end of the month. Perhaps using the word "hopefully" undermined his own attempt at optimism," he said.
"In Shenzhen we did see losses offset by gains among AI and EV firms. Investors still see solid growth potential there. Today was another one of those days which has kept the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets range bound this month, still unable to find really firm footing above 4000 points. But what we have seen is continued strong interest from foreign buyers who are looking for exposure to Chinese equities, especially in the emerging sectors where Chinese companies either lead the world, or rival big US or European names like in EVs and AI," said Pope.
"According to recent data from the Institute of International Finance, from January to October, 50.6 billion U.S. dollars of offshore money flowed into Chinese equities. That's not quite a record -- 2021 is still the best full year on record with more than 73 billion dollars flooding in, but when you consider that that was followed by three very lean years -- last year's total was just 11.4 billion -- the numbers so far this year look very strong, and China's stocks are still trading at a discount compared to the rest of the world," said the analyst.
China markets dip as investors lock in profits amid cautious Monday trading: analyst
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has underscored the need for the international community to properly recognize the historical injustices committed against Africa and support efforts to advance reparations for Africans and people of African descent.
Mahama made the remarks in an interview with the China Media Group (CMG) which was aired Friday and recorded during the Ghanaian President's trip to Beijing in October.
Earlier this year, Mahama had issued a call for collective action in securing justice for Africans and individuals of African descent through reparations at the 38th Ordinary Session of the African Union.
Located in West Africa along the northern shore of the Gulf of Guinea and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the south, Ghana boasts a more than 500-km coastline and abundant agricultural, fishery, forestry and mineral resources. Yet its history, like much of the African continent, has been deeply scarred by centuries of foreign aggression.
From the 15th century onward, Western colonial powers invaded coastal areas of what is now Ghana, plundering resources and conducting the slave trade, casting a long colonial shadow over the African continent which hung for centuries.
In 1955, the successful convening of the Bandung Conference -- which gathered representatives of Asian and African states in Indonesia -- ignited a new wave of national liberation movements these continents, accelerating the collapse of the global colonial system.
Ghana's independence in 1957 lit the first torch of freedom in sub-Saharan Africa and was hailed as the dawn of Africa's awakening.
Africa's first tragedy, the transatlantic slave trade, constituted an extremely grave atrocity, Mahama said.
During that period, an estimated 12 to 15 million Africans were forcibly taken from the continent and sent to the Caribbean, the Americas and Europe. They contributed to the building of modern Western civilization, yet received no compensation for their labor, whether working on sugar plantations or constructing railways, roads and bridges, he noted.
Mahama outlined his wish that the United Nations takes action to recognize the slave trade as "the greatest crime against humanity" and takes steps to ensure reparations are paid back to the descendants of those who suffered.
"We believe that first and foremost, it should be recognized as the greatest crime against humanity. We must condemn the activity of slavery of the people who were shipped to what I call the 'New World', that's the Western world. It's estimated that as many as 2 million did not arrive at the destination because they were either too sick or they died on board, and they were just tossed over into the ocean. That was genocide. And so it's an issue that the first step is for us to accept. And so Ghana wants to move a motion in the UN next year asking the world to recognize the slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity. And so we'll continue to push on the African [Union] Champion on Reparations when I spoke even at the UN, I raised the issue of reparations and so I do think that that is to do with slavery," he said.
Mahama also stressed the impact of colonialism, which further entrenched injustice and led to global inequality as African nations were ruthlessly exploited.
"With regards to colonialism, the Berlin Conference (1884–1885) partitioned Africa and the European nations took colonies in Africa, ran those colonies, exploited their natural resources and transferred those natural resources, oil palm, gold, minerals, cocoa and other products, to develop their countries. And it's only from the late 1950s that countries like Ghana got independent. And so that was an injustice. Colonialism was an injustice against African countries," he said.
Ghanaian president urges reparative justice for Africa, citing slavery, colonial exploitation
