China's A-share market saw renewed strength in oil & gas and chemical sectors, driven by ongoing geopolitical conflicts and blocked shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, which sustained market concerns over potential energy supply disruptions. On March 12, A-shares experienced volatile trading with a downward bias. The Shanghai Composite Index showed a slight recovery in early trading, while the ChiNext Index opened higher but later declined, at one point falling nearly 1%. Oil & gas, chemical, and coal sectors led gains, with power stocks also showing active performance. Hong Kong's market similarly trended lower, with most technology and internet stocks declining. In bond markets, government bond futures generally rebounded with upward movement. Commodity markets saw broad advances in domestic futures, with crude oil, fuel oil, and containerized freight index futures all surging over 10%.
Key market performance: A-shares: As of writing, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.13%, while the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.26% and the ChiNext Index declined 0.55%. Hong Kong stocks: The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.59% with the Hang Seng Tech Index decreasing 0.25% as of writing. Bond market: Government bond futures fell across the board, with the 30-year main contract up 0.04%, while 10-year, 5-year and 2-year main contracts remained flat as of writing. Commodities: Domestic commodity futures mostly advanced, with crude oil futures jumping 16%, fuel oil rising nearly 15%, containerized freight index and caustic soda both gaining over 10%. Asphalt, glass, and coking coal increased more than 4%, while coke, alumina, rapeseed, rubber, industrial silicon, iron ore, pulp, soybean meal, silicon manganese, and Shanghai aluminum all rose over 1%.
10:06 Low-sulfur fuel oil futures surged nearly 20% in domestic markets, with crude oil up over 14% and fuel oil gaining more than 13%.
09:34 MicroLED concept stocks rallied quickly, with Huacan Optoelectronics climbing over 13%. Jufei Optoelectronics, San'an Optoelectronics, Ledman Optical, NationStar Optoelectronics, and Refond Optoelectronics followed with gains.
Market news indicated that according to the latest TrendForce survey, demand for high-speed transmission in data centers continues to increase with the rise of generative AI. MicroLED CPO solutions feature lower energy consumption per unit transmission, potentially reducing overall energy usage to just 5% of copper cable solutions, positioning them as promising energy-efficient alternatives for optical interconnects.
09:30 Computing power leasing concept stocks remained active in early trading, with Hongjing Technology surging over 10% to continue setting new historical highs. SG Information, Yunji LiFei, Black Horse, Meili Cloud, Qunxing Toys, and Digital China followed with advances.
Market developments showed Tencent Cloud announced price adjustments effective March 13 for certain models on its intelligent agent development platform, with increases generally exceeding 400%.
09:28 Chemical sector stocks demonstrated repeated activity, with Sanfangxiang hitting the daily limit-up. Jinniu Chemical, Zhongyan Chemical, Jinpu Titanium, Tongkun Shares, Zhongtai Chemical, and Yida Shares opened higher.
Market background indicated chemical futures continued their upward trend on the evening of March 11, with paraxylene futures reaching the daily limit-up of 13%. PTA main contract hit the limit-up with a 13.01% gain, while bottle chip main contract also reached limit-up with a 12% increase. PVC rose nearly 9% and ethylene glycol advanced over 7%.
09:26 The Shanghai Composite Index opened 0.01% lower, while the ChiNext Index gained 0.22%. Rare metals, industrial mother machines, high-speed copper connection, superconductivity, liquid cooling servers, and short drama gaming concept stocks weakened. Chemical stocks surged again, with oil & gas shares showing localized activity.
09:21 The Hang Seng Index opened 0.69% lower, with the Hang Seng Tech Index down 0.6%. Most technology and internet stocks declined, with Tencent Music falling nearly 4%, Bilibili dropping over 2%, while Alibaba, Nio, and Kuaishou led the losses.
09:01 Commodity futures opened with paraxylene, PTA, and bottle chip main contracts all hitting daily limit-ups. LU fuel oil surged over 14%, crude oil gained more than 13%, and polyester staple fiber rose over 11%. Pure benzene and ethylene glycol both advanced over 10%, while container shipping Europe route and styrene increased more than 9%. Shanghai silver futures fell over 3%.
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