Chinese equity markets opened significantly higher across the board today. This followed announcements from state-owned investment companies China Reform Holdings and China Chengtong Holdings regarding increased investments in Chinese equities. Technology stocks, particularly those in the computing hardware and semiconductor sectors, rebounded strongly at the open.
Hong Kong's technology and internet stocks also saw substantial gains, with Alibaba (BABA) rising over 5%. The company recently unveiled its flagship large language model, Qwen3.8 Max, which boasts a massive 2.4 trillion parameters and is positioned as one of the most powerful AI models currently available.
Key Market Movements at the Open
On July 20th, A-shares opened sharply higher, with all three major indices advancing. The Shanghai Composite Index reclaimed the 3800-point level, while the ChiNext Index surged over 3%. Technology stocks, including computing hardware and semiconductors, led the rebound, driving gains in server and AI computing segments. Conversely, circuit board and copper-clad laminate stocks faced pressure. Sectors like oil & gas and coal strengthened, while innovative drug stocks initially dipped but quickly recovered.
The Hong Kong market also opened strong and extended gains. The Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng Tech Index both climbed, with the latter up 3%. Technology and internet stocks collectively rebounded. Alibaba rose over 5%, with Meituan, Tencent, and JD.com also posting gains. The biotechnology sector rallied. In the bond market, treasury futures were broadly lower. Commodity futures within China were predominantly higher.
Latest Market Snapshot
A-Shares: At the time of writing, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.92%, the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.16%, and the ChiNext Index jumped 2.78%.
Hong Kong: At the time of writing, the Hang Seng Index advanced 1.69%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index soared 3.01%.
Bonds: Treasury futures were down across the board. The 30-year contract fell 0.14%, the 10-year contract dipped 0.05%, the 5-year contract was down 0.02%, and the 2-year contract edged 0.01% lower.
Commodities: Domestic commodity futures were mostly higher. Crude oil surged nearly 7%, while fuel oil and asphalt both gained over 4%. Caustic soda rose more than 2%. Gains of around 1% were seen in coking coal, rubber, alumina, Shanghai tin, pulp, and Shanghai silver. Soybean meal, coke, rapeseed, the containerized freight index, Shanghai gold, Shanghai copper, ferromanganese-silicon, and Shanghai aluminum also moved higher. Decliners included industrial silicon, Shanghai nickel, stainless steel, iron ore, rebar, hot-rolled coil, eggs, polysilicon, and platinum. Lithium carbonate, glass, and palladium fell over 1%.
Intraday Sector Highlights
At 09:52, the coal sector saw a rebound. Dayou Energy and Zhengzhou Coal Electric hit the daily limit-up, Liaoning Energy touched the limit, while China Coal Energy, Haohua Energy, and Yankuang Energy followed higher.
Supporting data showed that as of July 17th, the Qinhuangdao port thermal coal price had risen to 821 yuan per ton, up 29 yuan week-on-week. The coal index gained 2.79% this week. National raw coal output in June fell 9.7% year-on-year, the largest drop in nearly a decade, with output declines from sample mines in Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia widening to 4.4%. Daily coal consumption at southern power plants rose to 6.12 million tons, reducing inventory days to 19.6, indicating the release of restocking demand.
The baijiu (white spirits) sector also rose, led by gains in Gujing Gongjiu and Jinhui Liquor.
At 09:48, the AI server concept strengthened. Inspur Information, Unisplendour Corporation, and Gongjin Electronics hit the limit-up, with Sugon, Hqtech, Haidar, and Digital China also advancing.
This followed the global debut of the first fully domestically produced 100,000-card AI supercluster, Sugon 8000 (Dengfeng), at the World AI Conference. Sugon had previously stated that the Sugon 8000 has been connected to the National Supercomputing Internet, marking a transition for AI data centers from the ten-thousand-card to the hundred-thousand-card deployment phase.
At 09:42, the CPO (co-packaged optics) concept rebounded. Eoptolink Technology Inc.,Ltd. (300502) surged over 8%, while Unilink Instruments jumped over 10%. Shijia Photons, JPT Opto-electronics, Zhongji Innolight, Deca Technologies, TFC Optical Communication, and others gained over 5%.
On July 19th, Eoptolink Technology Inc.,Ltd. announced an estimated net profit attributable to shareholders of 7.0 to 8.0 billion yuan for the first half of 2026, representing a year-on-year increase of 77.56% to 102.93%.
At 09:40, the Hang Seng Tech Index was up 3% intraday. Huahong Grace rose over 8%, Bilibili gained over 6%, and Alibaba advanced over 5%.
At 09:36, the ChiNext Index was up over 3%, and the Shanghai Composite rose over 1% above the 3800-point level. Oil & gas, computing power leasing, semiconductor chips, and CPO were among the top gainers. Over 4,200 stocks across the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges were in positive territory.
At 09:32, the innovative drug concept continued to adjust. Joinn Laboratories hit the daily limit-down for a second consecutive day. Additionally, Harbin Pharmaceutical, Linkcare Pharma, and Tianjin Pharmaceutical fell by the limit, while Wanbang Pharmaceutical, Bioray Laboratories, Changshan Pharma, Lifang Pharmaceutical, and Pien Tze Huang all dropped over 5%.
Initial Opening Levels
At 09:26, the Shanghai Composite Index opened 0.73% higher, and the ChiNext Index opened up 2.2%. The computing hardware supply chain rebounded, with servers, lab-grown diamonds, and CPO leading gains. Solar, semiconductors, rare earths, and oil & gas sectors were also higher. Lithium battery and innovative drug concept stocks weakened.
At 09:21, the Hang Seng Index opened 1.11% higher, and the Hang Seng Tech Index opened up 2.2%. Technology and internet stocks rebounded collectively. Huahong Grace and XPeng rose over 4%, while JD Health, SenseTime, and Alibaba gained over 3%.
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