China tech firm’s stock soars as Trump shooting boosts poll odds

A news program about the assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump is seen on a giant screen at a shopping mall in Beijing July 14, 2024. China’s President Xi Jinping expressed his “compassion and sympathy” to Donald Trump on July 14, a spokesman said, following an assassination attempt on the former US president during a rally in the United States. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

Beijing, China — A Chinese software maker whose name is a homophone for “Trump wins big” soared in mainland trading on Monday after a failed assassination attempt on the former US president.

Images of a bloodied Donald Trump waving his fist after the gunman opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania have prompted bullish bets by Chinese traders that he will win November’s presidential election.

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Shares of Wisesoft Co, whose Mandarin name “Chuan Da Zhi Sheng” sounds like “Trump wins big”, rose by the maximum daily 10 percent limit in trading on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

Speculative trading behaviour based on so-called “meme stocks” are common in mainland China, with dramatic swings in prices often unrelated to underlying business prospects.

Wisesoft’s shares surged to their daily limit last month following President Joe Biden’s poor performance in his first presidential debate with Trump.

They also spiked in 2016 after Trump won the presidential election.

Traders were not the only ones in mainland China to jump on the massive international attention the attempted assassination of garnered.

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T-shirts featuring a viral picture of Trump following the shooting flooded online e-commerce platform Taobao within hours of the incident.

Many had been removed as of Monday, however, though they were still available for shipment from China on overseas platforms.

China’s President Xi Jinping on Sunday expressed his “compassion and sympathy” to Trump following the shooting.

Beijing and Washington have clashed in recent years on flashpoint issues from technology and trade to human rights as well as over the self-ruled island of Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Trump has vowed to step up a trade war against China if he returns to the White House.

In March, he floated levies of 60 percent or higher on Chinese goods, warning: “You screw us and we’ll screw you.”