A-shares experienced volatile adjustments in the morning session, with the ChiNext Index falling over 1%. Sectors such as AI agents, commercial aerospace, education, and software development led the gains; while shipbuilding, liquid cooling servers, pharmaceutical commerce, and batteries were among the biggest decliners. Hengdong Optical saw intraday gains peak at a staggering 1128%, becoming the second new stock this year to surge over tenfold on its debut.
As of the midday close on December 31st, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.07%, the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.67%, and the ChiNext Index declined 1.1%. Market breadth was negative, with over 3,000 stocks across the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges trading lower, and half-day turnover reaching 1.33 trillion yuan. Specifically, the AI application sector rallied significantly again, with stocks like BlueFocus and Nanxing Co. hitting the daily limit-up. The commercial aerospace concept continued its strong performance, with nearly ten stocks, including Aerosun Corporation and Unistrong, reaching the limit-up. The ChangXin Memory Technologies concept was also active, with Hefei Urban Construction and Shangfeng Cement涨停. On the downside, the liquid cooling server concept weakened, with Chuanneng Power dropping over 8%. Key index performances are as follows:
The Shanghai Composite Index closed the morning session at 3962.24 points, down 0.07%. The Shenzhen Component Index closed the morning session at 13513.21 points, down 0.67%. The ChiNext Index closed the morning session at 3207.24 points, down 1.10%. The CSI 300 Index closed the morning session at 4630.63 points, down 0.44%. The STAR 50 Index closed the morning session at 1347.95 points, down 0.88%. The CSI 500 Index closed the morning session at 7444.43 points, down 0.19%. The CSI 1000 Index closed the morning session at 7583.94 points, down 0.18%.
Hong Kong markets closed lower, with the Hang Seng Index finishing down 0.87% today, but recording an annual gain of 27.77%, its best yearly performance since 2017. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.12% today, yet achieved a 23.45% annual increase, its strongest performance since its inception in 2020. Major tech stocks were broadly weak today, with JD.com, Kuaishou, Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Tencent all declining; Baidu was a notable exception, rising 1.39%. The release of detailed subsidies for automobile trade-ins valid until 2026 led to a high-open, low-close pattern for auto stocks, with NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto all turning negative. Semiconductor stocks, which rallied yesterday, retreated after news that the US government had issued licenses approving South Korean companies' exports of chip manufacturing equipment to China. Home appliance, insurance, wind power, and coal stocks also showed weakness.
Conversely, with the peak New Year holiday season approaching, airline and film stocks were active beneficiaries, particularly the three major airlines, which performed strongly; Maoyan Entertainment also advanced. Copper prices registered their best annual performance in over a decade, making copper stocks the sole gainers among nonferrous metals, with Jiangxi Copper hitting a fresh record high.
Domestic commodity futures were mixed at midday. Platinum plunged 10.25%, fuel oil dropped 1.93%, coking coal fell 1.69%, asphalt declined 0.96%, lumber was down 0.64%, industrial silicon slipped 0.45%, while the Containerized Freight Index (European route) rose 1.92%, Shanghai aluminum gained 1.78%, and glass increased 1.12%.
Government bond futures were down across the board at midday. The 30-year main contract fell 0.68% to 111.040 yuan, the 10-year main contract declined 0.17% to 107.760 yuan, the 5-year main contract dropped 0.10% to 105.700 yuan, and the 2-year main contract edged down 0.04% to 102.436 yuan.
At 10:46, palladium futures on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange plunged again, with the main contract falling nearly 8%; platinum dropped over 6%.
The CME Group is raising margin requirements for precious metals futures for the second time in a week, following extreme price volatility. The group announced on December 30th that margins for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium contracts will be increased after Wednesday's close, a decision based on assessing "market volatility to ensure adequate collateral coverage." Precious metals saw wild swings this week, capping a historic year for prices. Silver was particularly volatile, with futures briefly soaring to a record high above $82 per ounce early Monday before a sharp retreat. The margin hike means traders will need to post more collateral to trade precious metals futures. A previous round of margin increases took effect on Monday.
At 10:04, the nonferrous metals sector surged in early trading. Jiangxi Copper approached the daily limit-up, while Yunnan Copper, Shengda Resources, Guocheng Mining, Jingyi股份, and Zijin Mining all rose over 5%.
The nonferrous metals sector opened strong and climbed higher. The Huabao Nonferrous Metals ETF (159876) rose over 2.6% at one point, again刷新 its record high since listing. Its underlying index, the CSI Nonferrous Metals Index, broke above 3136 points in the morning, hitting a fresh near-decade high. Amid the sustained bullish sentiment, funds flowed in aggressively, with over 85 million yuan net流入 the Huabao Nonferrous Metals ETF (159876) in the past five trading days. The ETF saw real-time net subscriptions of another 2.4 million units during the session, suggesting continued investor optimism for the sector's outlook.
At 9:33, the commercial aerospace concept strengthened again. Taier Heavy Industry hit its fifth consecutive limit-up, with Leaguer, Hongying Intelligent, and Shunho Advanced Materials also涨停. Taili Technology surged over 10%, while Glorious Creation, Sunway Communication, Fenghuo Communication, and Ganzhao Optoelectronics followed suit.
At 9:30, the CSI Convertible Bond Index opened 0.13% higher. N Tianzhun Convertible and Digiwin Convertible rose 30%, triggering a temporary suspension, while Tianchuang Convertible gained over 14%.
At 9:29, government bond futures opened mixed. The 30-year main contract rose 0.04%, the 10-year main contract gained 0.05%, the 5-year main contract edged up 0.02%, and the 2-year main contract was flat.
At 9:29, the new Beijing Stock Exchange listing, N Hengdong Optical, opened over 1000% higher at 350 yuan.
At 9:25, key A-share indices opened higher. The Shanghai Composite Index opened at 3968.73 points, up 0.09%. The Shenzhen Component Index opened at 13627.26 points, up 0.17%. The ChiNext Index opened at 3247.74 points, up 0.15%. The CSI 300 opened at 4656.48 points, up 0.11%. The STAR 50 Index opened at 1367.17 points, up 0.54%. The CSI 500 opened at 7473.75 points, up 0.20%. The CSI 1000 opened at 7606.65 points, up 0.12%.
At 9:23, the Hang Seng Index opened down 0.21% at 25,801.49 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.22%. NIO rose over 3%, XPeng Motors gained over 2%; while Trip.com Group fell 2%, JD Health, JD.com, NetEase, and Kuaishou dropped over 1%.
At 9:15, the central parity rate for the yuan was set at 7.0288 against the US dollar, up 60 basis points from the previous fix of 7.0348. The previous day's official closing price was 6.9901, and the overnight session closed at 6.9942.
At 9:02, platinum futures on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange fell over 7%, while palladium futures dropped over 6%. Shanghai silver futures rose over 2%. In domestic commodity futures opening, Shanghai nickel surged over 3%, while the Containerized Freight Index (European route), glass, LPG, and lithium carbonate all gained over 2%. Platinum fell nearly 5%, palladium dropped over 2%, and low-sulphur fuel oil (LU) declined over 1%.
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