SINGAPORE, Feb 18 (Reuters) - The thesis for investing in China is improving underpinned by a combination of market performance and tailwinds from DeepSeek's AI breakthrough to better-than-expected U.S. relations, according to analysts at Bank of America Securities.

Under the sub-heading "From 'tradable' to 'investable'" the investment bank's China equity analysts noted that long-term reforms such as rising dividend payments and encouraging insurers to invest could back up recent market gains.

"China market outperformed in 2024, but many investors we spoke to still regarded China as a “trading market” - fast money comes and goes to play the trading bounces, whereas global long-term capital remains unconvinced and little involved," they said.

"Encouragingly, we think the fundamental investment thesis for China has been improving."

(Reporting by Tom Westbrook.Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

((tom.westbrook@tr.com; +65 6973 8284;))