China’s Top Fund Manager Sees Stock Gains on Growth Policy

China’s best-performing fund manager says the government’s pro-growth policies and pledge to compel state-owned companies to increase dividend yields will boost the nation’s stocks in the second half of the year.

Yinhua Fund Management Co.’s Wang Qi said he has turned optimistic on yuan-denominated shares, on prospects for further monetary policy easing after April data signaled a deepening slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy. His outlook is a change from mid-2011, when he said in the fund’s semi-annual report that stocks would trade “range-bound,” and comes as the government said this month during economic talks with the U.S. that state-owned firms will lift dividend payout ratios.