Market Insights: Mar 12, 2024

Performance of the A-share Market:

• On Tuesday, March 12, the A-share market showed a volatile upward trend, with the ChiNext leading the gains. The Shanghai Composite Index, Shenzhen Component Index, and ChiNext Index rose by 0.18%, 0.68%, and 1.03%, respectively. Many industries posted significant gains, with nearly 4000 stocks rising across the market. Additionally, northbound funds net bought 1.002 billion yuan.
• Solid-state batteries, quantum technology, and virtual power plants were among the sectors leading the gains, while coal, gold, and banking sectors were among the top losers. Traditional Chinese medicine concepts were initially active.

U.S. Economic Data and International Market Trends:

• U.S. CPI inflation data for February will be released on Thursday (March 14). The forecast shows that the core CPI month-on-month is expected to rise by 0.3%, with a year-on-year increase of 3.7%. The overall CPI month-on-month could rebound by 0.4%, maintaining the previous month's year-on-year rate of 3.1%.
• U.S. crude oil has fallen for three consecutive days to a new two-week low, while Brent crude stopped its decline after two consecutive drops. Gold futures have set new closing highs for seven consecutive days. LME nickel rose by 2%, reaching a new four-month high for three consecutive days, and LME copper rebounded to a new two-month high.

Regarding the Chinese Market:

• The ChiNext Index of A-shares surged by 4.6%, with outstanding performances in photovoltaic new energy. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) saw gains of over 14%, with northbound funds net buying 10.3 billion yuan.
• Chinese concept stocks listed in the U.S. performed well, with Bilibili gaining 13% and the index of Chinese concept stocks gaining more than 2%. Among them, GDS Holdings saw a gain of over 20%, and both XPeng Inc. and NIO Inc. saw gains of over 5%.
• The offshore yuan rose over 200 points during the trading session, breaking through 7.18 and reaching a new one-month high.

Investment and Company Performance:

• Investment bank Jefferies raised its target price for Pinduoduo, causing its stock price to surge by 5% at one point. Additionally, major Wall Street firms are optimistic about China's core investment tracks, believing that Pinduoduo's stock price already reflects concerns about risk factors and that its Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the domestic market is expected to achieve strong growth.

Vanke and Insurance Capital Consultation:

• Around March 8, senior management of several insurance companies went to Vanke's headquarters in Shenzhen for a new round of consultations. Their discussions included extending debt repayment periods, adding additional guarantees and collateral, and converting non-standard debts into standard ones through bond issuance. As of March 10, these consultations were still ongoing.

Xiaomi Dynamics:

• Lei Jun announced that the Xiaomi SU7 will be officially launched on March 28, believing it will become the first choice of smart vehicles for consumers. Xiaomi's official Weibo account announced that the Xiaomi SU7 will officially be launched on March 28. In 29 cities across the country, 59 stores will simultaneously open for pre-orders.

Elon Musk's Opinion on OpenAI:

• Musk announced he would open-source xAI's chatbot Grok this week, while once again slamming OpenAI. He accused OpenAI of promising to open-source last year but has now become a profit-maximizing, closed-source organization.

Dynamics of India's Financial Market:

• The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) stated that the T+0 settlement system would start trial operations on March 28. During this period, the SENSEX30 index fluctuated, setting a new historical high the previous trading day. Also, the Nifty50 index has recently continued to reach new highs.