Chinese fintech stocks gain ground after tentative U.S.-China auditing deal

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Many U.S.-listed Chinese fintech stocks are climbing Friday after U.S. and Chinese authorities reached a preliminary agreement that will allow U.S. auditors access to New York-listed Chinese firms.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, or PCAOB, sees the pact as a "first step" in letting the entity get open access to inspect and investigate China- and Hong Kong-based companies in a manner "consistent with U.S. law."

Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission added more than 80 Chinese-based companies to a list of stocks that could be dropped from U.S. exchanges over a dispute on their compliance with U.S. auditing rules.

Finvolution (NYSE:FINV) American depositary shares are up 2.8% in Friday afternoon trading, along with Futu Holdings (NASDAQ:FUTU), +2.5%, 360 DigiTech (NASDAQ:QFIN), +2.9%, and LexinFintech (NASDAQ:LX) +1.2%.

For the past month, FUTU, QFIN and FINV had been lagging the Global X FinTech Thematic ETF (NASDAQ:FINX). But today's gain has them all exceeding the fintech ETF's 5.7% increase as seen in the chart below.

Earlier this month, Chinese financial stocks caught a bid after PBOC reduced lending rates again