On October 23, the three major A-share indices opened collectively lower and weakened during the morning session, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping more than 2% intraday and briefly losing the 3,600-point level, while the ChiNext Index fell over 3% intraday and broke below the 2,500-point mark, before paring some losses. As of the midday close, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.20% at 3,614.12 points, the Shenzhen Component Index was down 1.60% at 11,175.85 points, the ChiNext Index was down 2.14% at 2,521.77 points, and the STAR 50 Index was down 3.07%. More than 4,800 stocks across the entire market declined. Half-day turnover for the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets totaled 1,068 billion yuan, an increase of 148.7 billion yuan compared with the previous trading day.
On the upside, the insurance sector rose 1.10%, the liquor sector gained 1.95%, the banking sector edged up 0.13%, and the concept of stocks held by Central Huijin Investment rose 0.60%, with the financial and consumer defensive directions closing in the green against the broader market trend. On the downside, the components sector fell 6.29%, communication equipment dropped 5.95%, the optical fiber concept declined 5.76%, electronic chemicals slid 5.31%, the PCB concept lost 5.30%, and the cultural media concept fell 4.36%, with the computing hardware industry chain retreating collectively.
Overall, the indices narrowed their intraday losses on the back of heavyweight sectors such as large-cap financials and liquor, but the divergence between heavyweight and thematic sectors was pronounced — heavyweight directions strengthened against the trend, while previously strong computing hardware directions including components, communication equipment, PCB, and optical fiber suffered sharp declines, with more than 4,800 stocks falling across the market. During the session, several CSI 300 ETFs saw concentrated volume surges, with Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF recording half-day turnover exceeding 8.5 billion yuan and E Fund CSI 300 ETF exceeding 4 billion yuan.
Major Sectors
1. Large-Cap Financials Surge Intraday
The insurance sector rose 1.10% and the banking sector edged up 0.13%. Hualin Securities hit the daily limit in a straight line, Huaxin Shares gained more than 4%, Hithink RoyalFlush rose over 4%, Capital Securities climbed nearly 3%, and PICC gained more than 1.5%. The securities sector index edged up 0.09% at midday, with gains notably smaller than those of the insurance sector.
On the news front, Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, announced on October 19 at the opening ceremony of the 2026 Financial Street Forum Annual Meeting that the CSRC had approved the registration of the first batch of 18 active ETFs. The first batch of 18 active ETFs was officially launched on October 23, with fund companies including E Fund, China AMC, Fullgoal, and China Universal having announced on October 22 that they would each subscribe to their own active ETFs with 200 million yuan of proprietary capital.
2. Liquor Sector Strengthens Against the Trend
The liquor sector rose 1.95%, with Yingjia Group up more than 5%, Gujing Distillery up over 5%, Jinhui Liquor up nearly 5%, Kweichow Moutai up more than 1.5%, and Shanxi Fenjiu up over 3%.
On the news front, the Ministry of Commerce website published on October 23 a statement by the head of the Consumption Promotion Department discussing China's consumer market conditions in the first three quarters of 2026. Total retail sales of consumer goods grew 1.1% year-on-year in the first three quarters, with September alone growing 1.1%, accelerating by 0.7 percentage points from August, while retail sales excluding automobiles rose 3.9%. Separately, according to data from the Luzhou China Baijiu Commodity Wholesale Price Index Office dated October 12, the national baijiu month-on-month price index for early October 2026 stood at 100.06, up 0.06%.
3. Recent IPOs Show Isolated Moves
CanSemi Technology touched the 20% daily limit intraday and was up more than 15% at midday, Luoyang Bearing gained over 8%, and Zhanxin Shares rose more than 7%.
On the news front, CanSemi Technology stated on October 21 in a reply to investors on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange's Hudongyi platform that the company would base itself on the national strategy of promoting high-quality development of the integrated circuit industry and refining mature process technologies, further deepening its layout in high-end digital-analog hybrid processes on top of continuously consolidating its advantages in high-end analog processes, and focusing on strengthening R&D and industrialization capabilities in silicon photonics and optoelectronic fusion process technologies. The company listed on the ChiNext board on October 13, becoming the first ChiNext-listed company primarily engaged in wafer manufacturing.
4. Multiple Robotics Concept Stocks Hit Consecutive Daily Limits
Several stocks within the robotics concept hit consecutive daily limits. Huayang Intelligent rose 20% for its second consecutive limit-up, Xiangyang Bearing and Zhengyu Industry each recorded a second consecutive limit-up, Qijing Machinery hit the daily limit, and Zhaowei Machinery & Electronics touched the daily limit intraday and was up more than 6% at midday. The robotics concept index still fell 3.39% at midday.
On the news front, on October 21 U.S. Eastern Time, Musk said at Tesla's earnings call that he firmly believes the humanoid robot sector will become the world's largest industry, and predicted that by the end of next year, a series of issues including robot AI, electromechanical design, reliability, and service life are expected to be resolved.
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