On February 2nd, Asia-Pacific stock markets experienced a collective plunge. As of approximately 11:50 Beijing time, Japan's TOPIX and Nikkei 225 indices erased their earlier gains; South Korea's KOSPI index saw its losses widen to 5%, led by the semiconductor sector, with SK Hynix falling over 6% and Samsung Electronics dropping more than 4%. In a recent development, the Korea Exchange briefly suspended stock trading.
In the A-share market, stocks fluctuated with a downward bias during the morning session, with all three major indices declining over 1%. More than 3,400 stocks across the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing exchanges were in negative territory, with a half-day turnover of 1.66 trillion yuan.
The precious metals sector was hit by a wave of limit-down declines. Zhaojin Gold saw two consecutive limit-down drops, while shares like Shandong Gold, Sichuan Gold, China Gold, Zhongjin Gold, Chifeng Gold, and Yuguang Gold & Lead all hit their daily downward limits. Additionally, Tongling Nonferrous, Zinc Industry, Silver Corp, and Hengbang Shares also fell by the 10% limit.
The SDIC Silver LOF resumed trading and immediately hit a limit-down, with its premium rate narrowing to 43.8%. Last Friday, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange stated that some investors had engaged in abnormal trading activities affecting the normal order of fund products like the "SDIC Silver LOF" during transactions and had taken self-regulatory measures such as suspending trading against the relevant investors. In today's morning session, multiple precious metals-themed LOFs weakened, with the Gold Theme LOF and the Gold LOF both falling over 7%, and the Harvest Gold LOF dropping more than 6%.
The chip industry chain continued to weaken during the session, led by the memory storage segment. HUA HONG SEMI fell over 10%, following earlier limit-down drops for Wanrun Technology and TAIJI COMPUTER. Kaipuyun plunged more than 15%, while Youfang Technology, Juchen Co., Puyang Co., and Tongyou Technology all declined over 10%.
Computing power hardware stocks like CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) extended their strong performance. Eoptolink surged over 10% intraday, hitting a fresh record high, before paring gains to 4.89% by the midday close, with a market capitalization of 437.4 billion yuan. Catalyzing the move, Eoptolink released its 2025 performance forecast, estimating a 29%-50% quarter-on-quarter increase in net profit for Q4 2025. Tengjing Technology, Dekel, Yangtze Optical Fibre, Changguang Huaxin, and Tianfu Communication also saw gains.
The power grid equipment sector experienced a surge of limit-up gains. Shuangjie Electric hit the 20% limit-up, while Yineng Electric, ANKOU, Xinte Electric, Senyuan Electric, Baobian Electric, and others rose by the 10% limit or more. According to the Securities Times, the global AI computing power construction is currently in an explosive growth phase, with power equipment transformers being upgraded as core infrastructure for computing power. In regions like Guangdong and Jiangsu, numerous transformer factories are already operating at full capacity.
Liquor stocks collectively advanced. Shuijingfang rose over 7%, while Shanxi Fenjiu, Kweichow Moutai, and Wuliangye gained over 2%. Gujing Gongjiu and Shedoo Liquor also followed the upward trend.
The strengthening liquor stock prices were partly catalyzed by price movements in the premium baijiu benchmark. Previously, on January 30th, the market wholesale price for Feitian Moutai rose for a third consecutive day, with the price per bottle in original cases breaking through 1,700 yuan, marking a single-day increase of approximately 100 yuan per bottle—the largest single-day gain this year. In a recent research report, China Securities Co., Ltd. projected the industry would bottom out in 2026, with leading companies increasing their market share, and expressed optimism for a potential major investment opportunity around the Spring Festival period, possibly representing a ten-year low for the sector.
During the morning session, the three major telecom operators weakened collectively. China Mobile fell nearly 5%, hitting a new low since June 2024, while China Unicom and China Telecom both declined over 4%. The catalyst was announcements from China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom on February 1st, stating that the applicable VAT tax category for telecommunications services had been adjusted, with the rate increasing from 6% to 9%, which is expected to impact their revenue and profits.
In individual stock movements, two A-share "super star performers," Fenglong Co., Ltd. and Jiamai Packaging, resumed trading on the same day. Both stocks opened and immediately hit limit-down levels, but subsequently saw buying interest emerge, leading to volatile price recoveries and a significant narrowing of their losses.
In the Hong Kong market, most technology and internet stocks pulled back. Semiconductor and chip stocks continued their decline. At the time of writing, HUA HONG SEMI was down heavily, over 10%, while GigaDevice fell nearly 7%. Shanghai Fudan, Innoscience, TankeBlue, and Novosense all dropped over 4%, and SMIC declined nearly 4%.
XPeng Motors fell over 9%, BYD dropped 6.39%, NIO declined over 5%, and Bilibili and Li Auto both fell more than 3%.
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