The market surge arrived somewhat unexpectedly, with Hong Kong stocks achieving a strong opening for 2026, characterized by a gap-up opening and continuous upward momentum that pushed the benchmark index decisively above the 26,000-point mark, closing with a substantial gain of 2.76%. The currency led the way once again; on the morning of January 2, the Renminbi maintained its recent strong trend, with the offshore USD/CNY rate breaking through 6.97 during the session to reach a high of 6.96755, marking a new phase high since May 2023. The FTSE China A50 Index futures surged over 1% intraday. Aluminum prices touched $3,000, reaching a new high since 2022, primarily supported by expectations of supply tightening and long-term demand growth. Zhitong Finance's December stock picks, CHALCO (02600) and China Hongqiao (01347), both rose over 4%. The repeated emphasis on technology's leadership in the market was evident today as Baidu announced on the Hong Kong Exchange that on January 1, Kunlun Xin had submitted a confidential application for a main board listing via its joint sponsors. To date, Kunlun Xin has cumulatively deployed tens of thousands of cards, including an illuminated 30,000-card cluster capable of supporting simultaneous training for multiple large-scale models with hundreds of billions of parameters. Looking ahead, Baidu AI Cloud plans to expand the scale of a single Kunlun Xin cluster from 30,000 cards to a million-card level, with Kunlun Xin's full-year 2025 revenue estimated at approximately RMB 5 billion, "securing its position firmly among the top three domestic players." In a December research report, Goldman Sachs noted that, based on comparable company valuations, Baidu's 59% stake in Kunlun Xin is valued in the range of $3 billion to $11 billion. Macquarie Securities estimated the stake's value at around $16.5 billion, accounting for 30% of its target valuation for Baidu. A potential listing for Baidu's Kunlun Xin would directly enhance its valuation; Baidu Group (09888) surged over 9% today, pulling other tech giants like Alibaba (09988), Tencent (00700), and NetEase (09999) up by over 4%. The "first GPU stock in Hong Kong," Biren Tech (06082), debuted with a火爆 subscription, being oversubscribed by 1,583.50 times. Priced at HK$19.60 per share, it opened today at HK$35.7, an 82% premium, and surged intraday to a high of HK$42.88 before profit-taking emerged, closing at HK$34.46. Biren Tech's core competitiveness lies in its self-developed Biren™ series GPU products and the BIRENSUPA software platform, providing computing power support for AI applications from cloud to edge. A senior executive from Goldman Sachs commented that current speculative activity is far from the levels seen during the dot-com bubble era. Samsung Electronics' stock price soared 3.2% at one point, hitting a record high; TSMC also started the year strong, rising about 2% to reach a new high again after just one trading day. Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347) released multiple announcements indicating its intention to acquire a combined 97.4988% stake in Huali Microelectronics from Hua Hong Group and three other parties via a share issuance, and plans to raise supporting funds through a private placement to no more than 35 qualified specific investors. The key currently is the ability to raise capital for continuous capacity expansion; Hua Hong Semiconductor (01347) rose over 9%, while Zhitong's January stock picks SMIC (00981) and ASMPT (00522) both gained nearly 5%. The commercial aerospace sector, mentioned last Friday, experienced a full-blown breakout; on December 31, the Shanghai Stock Exchange website showed that LandSpace Technology Corporation's STAR Market IPO application was accepted, officially making a bid to become the "first commercial rocket stock" on the STAR Market. According to previous periodic reports from Goldwind Science & Technology, the company holds an 8.3% stake in LandSpace Technology Corporation. Goldwind Tech (02208) surged over 20%. Another factor: Early this morning Beijing time, Elon Musk's SpaceX announced it would lower the orbital altitude of thousands of Starlink satellites to reduce collision risks. Low Earth orbit is becoming unprecedentedly crowded. Last year, SpaceX added over 3,000 satellites through 121 launch missions, averaging almost one new satellite launch every three days. Taking Musk's Starlink project as an example, it has over 10,000 satellites in orbit, which have twice forced the Chinese space station to perform emergency collision avoidance maneuvers. China needs to accelerate its pace of satellite launches; otherwise, being crowded out by Starlink is highly unfavorable. C Strategic Tec (01725) surged nearly 43%; APT Satellite (01045) rose over 34%; CHINA AEROSPACE (00031) gained over 18%; AVICHINA (02357) advanced nearly 7%. Among today's gainers, only APT Satellite had risen previously, indicating this theme has finally gained recognition from capital. Continue monitoring previously active stocks like CIMC ENRIC (03899) and DRINDA (02865). SKYWORTH GROUP (00751) surged over 10%, providing a significant boost to market sentiment. Firstly, due to its photovoltaic attributes, the company reported further good news from its overseas PV market—the official signing of a 10MW distributed PV power station project in Occhia, Abruzzo, Italy, marking the project's entry into the substantive construction phase. Additionally, Skyworth PV has made positive progress in the European market, including successfully signing a 10MW PV project in Bordeaux, France, gradually building a clean energy network covering key European regions. The State Administration for Market Regulation recently conducted compliance guidance on price competition order in the photovoltaic industry in Hefei, Anhui. The administration will intensify efforts through increased product quality supervision and enhanced price and anti-unfair competition enforcement to strictly investigate and punish illegal activities, effectively maintain fair market competition order, and promote the standardized, healthy, and sustainable development of the PV industry. Photovoltaics is one of the few sectors near bottom levels, prone to rising on news, but sustainability depends mainly on demand-side recovery. GCL NEWENERGY (00451) surged nearly 21%, while GCL TECH (03800), FLAT GLASS (06865), and XINYI SOLAR (00968) all rose over 3%. Secondly, due to its home appliance attributes, when the home appliance subsidies were announced on Wednesday, appliance stocks initially rose but then fell back, also related to weak broader market conditions. Today, with the market itself being strong and led by SKYWORTH GROUP (00751), home appliance stocks followed suit, with MIDEA GROUP (00300) and HAIER SMARTHOME (06690) both rising over 4%. The world's largest Hualong One nuclear power base, the Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Unit 2, officially commenced commercial operation on January 1, marking the full completion and operation of the first phase of the Zhangzhou nuclear power project and a critical step in the batch construction of China's self-developed third-generation nuclear power technology, Hualong One. CGN MINING (01164) rose nearly 5%.
Data from research firm Dataforce shows that in November 2025, the market share of Chinese brands in the European electric vehicle market surged to 12.8%, a record high; performance was even stronger in the hybrid vehicle segment, with share directly breaking through 13%. According to statistics from the UK's Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, in the first 11 months of this year, sales of Chinese automotive brands in the UK reached 187,800 units, exactly double the figure from the same period last year. It's not just the UK; in Spain and Norway's new car markets, one in every ten vehicles comes from a Chinese brand, with the average share across Western Europe reaching 6%. Data from the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association also confirms this growth momentum. From January to November last year, SAIC's MG registrations reached 274,000 units, a 26.1% year-on-year increase. During the same period, BYD's market share registrations hit 160,000 units, with the growth rate soaring to 276%. In core markets like Germany and Italy, BYD's sales even surpassed those of Tesla. Geely also performed well; Group CFO Dai Yong revealed that in the first three quarters of this year alone, Geely's sales in Europe grew 61.8% year-on-year. More notably, the cars Chinese automakers sell in Europe are not cheap at all. For example, the Geely International EX5, officially launched in London, UK, on October 23, 2025, has a price range of £31,990-£36,990, approximately RMB 303,000-351,000, with a starting price three times that of the domestic version, yet it is still accepted by the market. New energy vehicle startups also delivered their annual report cards for 2025; overall, only Leapmotor, Xiaomi, and Xpeng met their full-year sales targets. Leapmotor was the biggest "dark horse" among the startups in 2025, with annual sales nearing 600,000 units, leapfrogging to become the sales champion among startups, achieving over 119% of its annual target. This indicates that Chinese automobiles have gained recognition in overseas markets through solid technological prowess. Key stocks: BYD (01211), GEELY AUTO (00175), LEAPMOTOR (09863), Xpeng (09868), Xiaomi (01810).
CHALCO (02600): LME Aluminum Hits New High Since 2022; Clear Advantages - Focus on Catalysis from Aluminum Prices and Earnings. LME aluminum broke through $3,000, reaching a new high since 2022, while global aluminum inventories hit a 5-year low; domestic capacity operating at full tilt combined with surging demand from new energy (electric vehicles/photovoltaics) makes aluminum prices prone to rise rather than fall. Commentary: Rising aluminum prices will directly boost the company's earnings. As a global leader in the aluminum industry, the company boasts an aluminum electrolysis capacity exceeding 12 million tons, with an 18% market share. In Q3 2025, it achieved operating revenue of RMB 60.124 billion and a net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB 3.801 billion, a year-on-year increase of 90.31%; profit after deducting non-recurring items reached RMB 3.775 billion, surging 103.37%. Profit growth primarily stemmed from the company's continuous efforts to strengthen cost control, optimize resource security, and increase production and sales volume. The company's core advantage is resource self-sufficiency: an annual supply of 20 million tons of bauxite from Guinea, targeting 100% bauxite self-sufficiency (currently 60%) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, with costs 10% lower than peers. From a business structure perspective, high-end aluminum accounts for 35% of revenue (up 40% year-on-year), with partnerships with BYD (supplying 80% of the aluminum for battery casings in BYD's NEVs) and Longi Green Energy Technology in photovoltaics; energy storage is expected to add 1 million tons of aluminum demand in 2026, and green power aluminum accounts for 45% (ranking first in the industry), enjoying a green premium. Regarding new capacity, a 400,000-ton high-end aluminum alloy flat ingot project in Yunnan is scheduled for operation in March 2026, aiming to increase the alloying rate to over 90%; monitor the progress of the 3 million-ton alumina project in Dalian expected to commence in Q1 2026. Institutions forecast that for every 10% increase in aluminum prices, the net profit is bolstered by RMB 1.5 billion. Continue to monitor the catalytic effect of aluminum prices on earnings.
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