China's stock markets have lost $550 billion in the last week as investors doubt the economy's rebound

• Chinese stock markets have lost $550 billion over the past week, despite strong economic data.
• The upbeat data have lowered hopes for more stimulus that would fuel the rebound further.
• "You must remember that China now is a huge country and cannot grow at the rate that it grew 10 years ago."

Chinese stocks have sold off recently despite better-than-expected economic data, as investors lose optimism in a further rebound.

In the past week alone, the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges have lost about $519 billion in market capitalization, while companies listed on the Nasdaq Golden Dragon index shed $31 billion, The Financial Times reported.

That came as first-quarter data showed China's economy expanded 4.5%, beating forecasts for 4% growth, as the country continued to emerge from the end of its zero-COVID policies.

But that outperformance may now cause the government to refrain from approving more stimulus, with hopes faltering for interest rate cuts from the People's Bank of China.

Sentiment within the country may have also weakened as China unveiled a real-estate registration system, which would allow officials greater regulatory capacity over the troubled market that may discourage homebuyers, the FT said.

Domestic investors were not alone in backing out of markets, as foreign traders were estimated to remove around $2 billion from Chinese equities. 

"You must remember that China now is a huge country and cannot grow at the rate that it grew 10 years ago — you know, it was growing at 10%," emerging markets investor Mark Mobius told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday. "This is gone, this cannot be done anymore because of the size of the economy."