Stock investors in China lose access to key data as exchanges stop reporting sentiment indicator

• Stock exchanges in China stopped reporting daily data on foreign fund flows.
• Year-to-date flows entered the negative territory on Friday as foreign investors continue to pull back.
• Its part of a bigger movement away from real-time data toward longer term, less volatile indicators.

Exchanges in China stopped reporting a key indicator investors use to gauge sentiment in the stock market of the world's second-largest economy.

On Monday, exchanges halted the release of daily data on flows from foreign investors. Foreign fund flows are often used as a key sentiment indicator, showing daily inflows to stocks in mainland China.

As of last week, the data was turning increasingly sour, with the year-to-date net flows entering negative territory on Friday as investors continued to pull back from China stocks.

If the trend continues, it will be the first year of net outflows since 2016. China's CSI 300 index is down almost 2.5% year-to-date, and has plummeted over 9% since May.

Officials first hinted at cutting real-time data on foreign flows back in April and made the decision official at the end of July. Now, the metric will only be published quarterly.

The move is part of a large pivot away from real-time data as China's economy remains stuck in a rut.

In May, China stopped reporting intraday foreign flows data. Officials said the move more closely aligned Chinese stock exchanges with those in the US and Europe, where markets don't release intraday data on certain investors or differentiate between domestic and international investors.

Now, China's Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges only publish two daily data metrics — trades of its 10 most active stocks and the total turnover and trade volume of stocks traded through Hong Kong.

China's economy is facing headwinds from several directions, including its struggling property sector and weak consumer sentiment. Its latest bout of tough economic data showed fixed-asset investment saw an unexpected decline in the first half of the year.