Both A-shares and Hong Kong stocks faced collective pressure during early trading today, mirroring declines across the Asia-Pacific market. The downturn followed remarks from former U.S. President Donald Trump, who stated that extremely severe strikes against Iran would be conducted within the next two to three weeks. Market expectations had been for Trump's national address to ease tensions; instead, he indicated the conflict would persist until late April and threatened to target Iran's power plants, triggering a sharp rise in international oil prices and a subsequent rebound in oil and gas stocks.
On April 2, A-shares fluctuated lower, with the three major indices declining collectively at the market open. The ChiNext Index fell by as much as 1%. Resource sectors such as oil and gas, and coal, advanced against the trend, while shipping stocks also saw gains. Conversely, AI computing power concepts, fiberglass, and precious metals underwent adjustments. Hong Kong stocks opened lower and continued to decline, with both the Hang Seng Index and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropping more than 1%. Technology and internet stocks were broadly lower, and AI application stocks experienced significant corrections, with KNOWLEDGE ATLAS plunging 15%.
In the bond market, treasury futures fell across the board. In commodities, most domestic commodity futures traded lower, with Shanghai silver, palladium, and platinum futures among the biggest decliners. Key market movements:
A-shares: As of writing, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.05%, the Shenzhen Component Index declined 0.40%, and the ChiNext Index dropped 0.96%.
Hong Kong stocks: As of writing, the Hang Seng Index decreased 0.85%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.49%.
Bond market: Treasury futures were down across all major contracts. As of writing, the 30-year main contract fell 0.04%, the 10-year main contract declined 0.04%, the 5-year main contract dropped 0.03%, and the 2-year main contract decreased 0.02%.
Commodities: Most domestic commodity futures were lower. As of writing, silicon manganese rose 2%, while fuel oil, Shanghai gold, rubber, Shanghai aluminum, polysilicon, and eggs saw gains. Bitumen, Shanghai copper, coke, stainless steel, coking coal, Shanghai nickel, the containerized freight index, hot-rolled coil, soybean meal, industrial silicon, rebar, and crude oil declined. Lithium carbonate, glass, alumina, iron ore, and caustic soda fell more than 1%, with palladium, platinum, Shanghai aluminum, and Shanghai silver among the top losers.
09:55 Hong Kong large language model concept stocks declined, with KNOWLEDGE ATLAS falling over 16% and MINIMAX dropping nearly 10%.
09:45 The Hang Seng Tech Index's intraday loss widened to 1%.
09:40 The shipping sector became active again, led by oil tanker stocks. China Merchants Energy Shipping hit the limit-up, reaching a record high. Cosco Shipping Energy Transportation, Guo Hang Yuan Yang, China Merchants Nanjing Tanker Corporation, Antong Holdings, and Shenghang Group followed with gains.
09:36 A-share oil and gas stocks rose against the trend. Heshun Petroleum hit the limit-up, Beken Corporation gained over 8%, while Keli Group, Jereh Group, Shandong Molong, and Tong Petroleum followed with increases.
Following Trump's comments, the main contracts for WTI crude and Brent crude futures rose over 4% intraday. According to a report, Trump claimed a "swift, decisive, and overwhelming victory" in the conflict with Iran and stated that the core strategic U.S. objectives were "nearing completion." He also said that if no agreement is reached, Iran's power plants would be targeted, noting that oil facilities, while the easiest target, had not yet been attacked.
09:31 The ChiNext Index fell over 1%, the Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.38%, and the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.72%. Precious metals, computing power leasing, film and television, and photovoltaic equipment were among the biggest decliners. More than 3,700 stocks fell across the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges.
09:26 The Shanghai Composite Index opened 0.2% lower, while the ChiNext Index fell 0.55%. Lithium batteries, photovoltaics, aluminum, advanced packaging, semiconductor equipment, energy metals, and gold concept stocks led the declines. Oil and gas, and memory sectors strengthened.
09:21 The Hang Seng Index opened 0.16% lower, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 0.49%. Bilibili, Alibaba, Kingsoft, and Xiaomi Group were among the top decliners, while Wuxi Biologics, China Molybdenum, and Hansoh Pharma were among the gainers.
09:01 Domestic commodity futures opened mostly lower. The Europe containerized freight index fell over 6%, LU fuel oil dropped over 5%, while fuel oil, BR rubber, and styrene declined over 4%. Liquefied petroleum gas and bitumen fell over 3%. Shanghai gold rose over 2%, while Shanghai zinc and Shanghai silver gained over 1%.
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