WHEN investors get nervous about the Chinese markets, it’s an opportunity for some to snap up stocks in the country’s emerging global powerhouses.

A lot of the worries about China and its financial system are “exaggerated,” according to Jorry Noeddekaer, the head of emerging markets at Nordea Asset Management in Copenhagen.

“Every two weeks or so, somebody tells you that China is going to blow to pieces. It hasn’t happened so far,” Noeddekaer said.

Volatility has increased in the Chinese stock markets in the past month and the CSI 300 Index has fallen over 5 percent from a high in November, the biggest decline since 2016, after the government signaled it was concerned about some high-flying stocks.

“All this nervousness and all these very skeptical people out there create a great opportunity for being a stockpicker,” said Noeddekaer, who oversees US$5 billion. “You can buy very high quality companies cheaply.”

Noeddekaer buys firms in the service and consumption driven part of the economy while avoiding the commodity sector and the government-owned banks.

Nordea Emerging Stars fund has returned on average 11 percent a year in the past five years. That’s better than 93 percent of its peers. Its biggest holdings are Samsung, Tencent, Taiwan Semiconductor and Alibaba.

Alibaba has “an exceptionally scalable business model” and the “monetization potential of customer engagement still have a lot of room to grow,” according to Noeddekaer.(SD-Agencies)