How should investors interpret China’s plenum, priorities and policies?

China’s leaders had a thankless task at their Third Plenum, held July 15-18. The meeting — so named because of its sequence in a series of policy-setting summits held every five years to chart long-term economic reforms — was intended to craft a plan of action to dispel perceptions of Chinese economic malaise.

Yet few specific measures were announced. While there was support for the green technology and energy sectors, deemed crucial to national security and economic resilience, the results – summarised in three 25,000-word white papers in their English translations – fell short of market expectations.

Real estate and technology stocks, the country’s flagship sectors, rose 7% and 6% respectively before the meeting. But local investors’ expectations of market-friendly measures were again dashed, with stock markets in mainland China and Hong Kong losing ground after the plenary session.