To The Moon

On August 26, A-share markets wrapped up trading with all three major indices posting gains, led by a strong performance from the STAR 50 index, reflecting a broadly positive session across the board.

By the closing bell, the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 0.59% to 3,912.52 points, the Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.69% to 13,841.33 points, and the ChiNext Index gained 0.51% to 3,414.88 points. The STAR 50 index jumped 1.71% to 1,632.02 points, while the Beijing Stock Exchange 50 index edged up 0.45% to 1,067.97 points. Total trading volume on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges reached approximately 1.8087 trillion yuan, down by around 23.1 billion yuan from the previous session.

Market breadth showed 2,946 stocks advancing against 2,448 decliners, with 56 names hitting the daily upper limit and 2 hitting the lower limit, meaning roughly 53% of all listed stocks ended the day in positive territory.

Sector performance and key drivers

Among the top-performing sectors, paper manufacturing led with a 3.79% surge, followed by industrial metals up 3.33%, securities firms gaining 2.75%, insurance climbing 2.06%, and cement advancing 2.01%. On the downside, publishing slipped 1.44%, small home appliances dropped 1.35%, medical services fell 1.34%, digital media declined 1.10%, and electric motors lost 0.95%.

The nonferrous metals space was a standout, with the industrial metals sub-sector advancing 3.33%. This was fueled by overnight LME copper futures closing at a record high of $14,324.50 per ton, coupled with robust half-year earnings reports from several copper producers, including a 106.77% year-on-year jump in net profit attributable to shareholders reported by Jiangxi Copper. Stocks like Jingyi Co., Baiyin Nonferrous, Jiangxi Copper, and Jinchengxin all hit their daily price limits, while Tongling Nonferrous, CMOC, Yunnan Copper, Western Mining, and Northern Copper also posted gains.

The broader financial sector also gained traction, with the securities sub-sector rising 2.75% and finishing the day entirely in positive territory. Jinlong Co. and Xiangcai Securities both hit limit-up, with Changjiang Securities and China Merchants Securities among those advancing. The catalyst came from interim earnings disclosures: as of August 25, 20 listed brokerages had released their first-half results for 2026, with Zhongtai Securities posting the largest profit growth at 146.38%, while Cinda Securities and Huaan Securities more than doubled their earnings. Several firms also unveiled interim dividend proposals.

The paper sector topped the Shenwan secondary industry rankings with a 3.79% gain. Qingshan Paper extended its winning streak with a second consecutive limit-up, while Sun Paper surged 8.79%, and other names like Hengda New Materials, Rongsheng Environmental Protection, Jingxing Paper, and Bohui Paper followed suit. The rally was supported by Sun Paper's second-quarter net profit rising 16.84% year-on-year, along with the onset of the peak season for textbook and teaching material printing in the second half, which typically boosts cultural paper demand.

Weakness and rotation

On the flip side, medical services, publishing, small home appliances, and digital media were among the laggards, with declines of 1.34%, 1.44%, 1.35%, and 1.10%, respectively. The CRO concept experienced choppy trading, with Chengda Pharmaceutical falling 5.21%, while some computing hardware names also retreated, such as Guangpu Co., which slipped 3.73%.

Notably, small home appliances had surged 8.02% on August 25 to lead the Shenwan secondary industry rankings, but reversed sharply the following day, underscoring a clear pattern of sector rotation in the current market environment.