Chinese investors’ fierce appetite for overseas shares has triggered rare, full-day suspensions on a pair of exchange-traded funds tracking global equities.
The Invesco Great Wall S and P Consumer Select ETF QDII and Harvest Der Dax ETF QDII have been suspended from trading until further notice after their premiums soared, according to exchange filings issued after market hours on Thursday. This marks an escalated degree of risk warning to investors, as halts on such funds usually last for an hour.

“The transaction price in the secondary market is significantly higher than the reference net value of fund shares, resulting in a substantial premium,” according to both statements. “If investors invest blindly, they may suffer serious consequences.”
The suspensions come as Chinese shares grapple with their weakest start to a year in nearly a decade. Trading activity in products under the QDII program, which allows institutional investors who meet certain conditions to invest in foreign securities with a prescribed quota, have surged as onshore equities languish. Local investors are also chasing returns in global bond funds.
The Invesco Great Wall ETF rose by the 10% limit on Thursday, with its premium jumping to around 52% at the close, according to fund tracker East Money. That marks the highest premium for any ETF trading in China for at least two years, Bloomberg Intelligence data show. Meanwhile, the Harvest ETF gained more than 9% and its premium reached 15%.
Premium spikes for ETFs are created when investors aggressively bid up funds. Further restricting purchases of these products would close off one channel for many Chinese investors to participate in rallies abroad.
Turnover in the Harvest ETF on Thursday was a record 2.3 billion yuan ($314 million), while a Saudi QDII ETF was among the most heavily traded securities in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
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