After the Asia-Pacific stock market plunged, it rebounded, and the Hong Kong stock market opened higher in the morning session. The Heng Seng Tech Index rose by as much as 1.77%; in the afternoon, the three major indexes all fell, and the Heng Seng Tech Index performed relatively well and repeatedly pulled up in red. At the close, the Heng Seng Index fell 0.31% or 51.02 points to 16647.34 points, with a daily turnover of HK $ 96.455 billion; the Heng Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.41%, to 5852.61 points; the Heng Seng Tech Index rose 0.09%, to 3342.52 points.
According to the CBI APP, after the Asia-Pacific stock market plunged, it rebounded, and the Hong Kong stock market opened higher in the morning session. The Heng Seng Tech Index rose by as much as 1.77%; in the afternoon, the three major indexes all fell, and the Heng Seng Tech Index performed relatively well and repeatedly pulled up in red. At the close, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.31% or 51.02 points to 16647.34 points, with a daily turnover of HK $ 96.455 billion; the Heng Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.41%, to 5852.61 points; the Heng Seng Tech Index rose 0.09%, to 3342.52 points.
Guoyuan International believes that the external environment of Hong Kong stocks has undergone major changes: the unemployment rate is higher than expected, and the Bank of Japan's interest rate hike has triggered a rapid decline in US and Japanese stocks in the short term. The bank believes that the cheap funds that will come after the Fed’s interest rate cut and Hong Kong stocks’ relatively cheap valuations will help attract more funds to Hong Kong stocks. However, in the short term, Hong Kong stocks may still be disturbed by the sentiment of external markets. The possibility of stock indexes continuing to fall cannot be ruled out.
Blue chip performance
Hansoh Pharma (03692) led the blue chips. At the close, it rose 9.38% to HK $ 18.42, with a turnover of HK $ 0.169 billion, contributing 2.98 points to Heng Seng Index. Xingye Securities pointed out that recently the performance forecast and the mid-term report have successively fallen. Most of the companies meet expectations, and some companies have achieved better-than-expected results, reflecting the strong performance resilience of the pharmaceutical sector. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, the industry's macro environment is expected to gradually improve, and the sector will enter a period of downswing in performance base. It is expected that the sector's performance will show a marginal improvement trend.
In terms of other blue-chip stocks, WuXi AppTec (02359) rose 6.17% to HK $ 35.25, contributing 1.13 points to Heng Seng Index; Li Ning (02331) rose 3.93% to HK $ 13.74, contributing 1.97 points to Heng Seng Index; China Life Insurance (02628) fell 4.54% to HK $ 10.1, dragging Heng Seng Index down by 5.76 points; Bud APAC (01876) fell 4.22% to HK $ 9.53, dragging Heng Seng Index down by 1.34 points.
Hot sectors
On the market, large technology stocks rose and fell today. Alibaba closed up 1.42%, while Tencent closed down 0.62%. Declining trading in response to recessionary trades puts pressure on gold prices and continues to lower gold concept stocks. China Pacific Insurance's stock price fell over 12%, leading the decline in insurance stocks. The downturn is due to the impact of overseas market volatility. Beer and Macau casino stocks rose yesterday, but all fell today. On the other hand, education stocks were strong throughout the day due to policy catalysis and performance realization. Pharmaceutical stocks, photovoltaic stocks, dining stocks, and some consumer stocks all performed well.
1. Educational stocks were strong. At the close, New Oriental-S (09901) rose 10.76% to HK $ 52.5; Scholar Edu (01769) rose 9.63% to HK $ 4.78; Beststudy Edu (03978) rose 8.47% to HK $ 2.69; and Squirrel AI Learning (02469) rose 6.32% to HK $ 2.86.
Some Hong Kong education companies released first-half performance forecasts. Scholar Edu is expected to have revenue of no less than RMB 380 million in the first half of the year, an increase of no less than 51.2% year-on-year; earnings attributable to shareholders are expected to be no less than RMB 80 million, an increase of no less than 86.5% year-on-year; except for stock option benefit expenses, the adjusted net profit will be no less than RMB 90.9 million, an increase of no less than 95.5% year-on-year. Squirrel AI Learning expects net profit in the first half of the year to be no less than RMB 0.255 billion, an increase of no less than 212.9% year-on-year.
CITIC Securities pointed out that most listed companies in the industry are expected to maintain growth during the summer. The industry overall is still optimistic. The bank believes that the current sentiment in the sector has been affected by the performance of leading companies, but the bank believes that with the catalysis of policies (this week, the State Council mentioned "education and training consumption" in the "Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Service Consumption"), combined with the gradual realization of performance by various companies, confidence in the sector is expected to return. The valuations of various companies are all at low positions, and it is recommended to take advantage of the correction to actively lay out.
Medical stocks rose all day. As of the close, genscript bio(01548) rose by 9.41%, to 13.02 Hong Kong dollars; zai lab(09688) rose by 6.68%, to 14.7 Hong Kong dollars; wuxi apptec(02359) rose by 6.17%, to 35.25 Hong Kong dollars; tigermed(03347) rose by 5.41%, to 35.05 Hong Kong dollars.
Since July, the new version of DRG/DIP, equipment updates, and policy support for the entire chain of innovative drugs/devices has been successively launched. Sinolink Securities believes that with the successive launch of policies such as the national full-chain support of the innovative drug industry chain, the innovative drug industry will usher in faster development. The bank said that after passing the semi-annual report window, the performance of the pharmaceutical industry in the second half of the year is expected to see overall improvement year-on-year and an increase quarter-by-quarter. In addition, the fermentation of the downward risk of the US employment market has increased the expectation of interest rate cuts in the market, and the innovative drug sector may usher in new opportunities.
The signs of recovery among several CXO companies are also gradually emerging. In the first half of this year, wuxi apptec had 43.1 billion yuan in hand orders, a year-on-year increase of 33.2% excluding the COVID-19 commercialization project. Asymchem Laboratories revealed in its 2024 semi-annual report performance forecast that the growth rate of new signed orders exceeded 20% year-on-year, and there was a significant increase in the second quarter compared to the first quarter. Pharmaron also stated in its semi-annual report forecast that the amount of new signed orders in the first half of the year increased by more than 15% year-on-year.
PV stocks rebounded significantly. As of the close, gcl tech(03800) rose by 11.65%, to 1.15 Hong Kong dollars; flat glass(06865) rose by 8.78%, to 12.14 Hong Kong dollars; xinte energy(01799) rose by 5.78%, to 7.32 Hong Kong dollars; xinyi solar(00968) rose by 2.86%, to 3.6 Hong Kong dollars.
The latest SMM quotation shows that the average price of polysilicon dense material is 36.5 yuan/kg, an increase of 2.82%; the average price of polysilicon reuse material is 38.5 yuan/kg, an increase of 2.67%; the average price of N-type polysilicon material is 40.5 yuan/kg, an increase of 3.85%; the price of granular silicon is 33 yuan/kg, an increase of 3.13%; and the average price of N-type granular silicon is 36.5 yuan/kg, an increase of 2.82%. Minsheng Securities pointed out that the current silicon material price is at the bottom, and some second- and third-tier manufacturers have reduced the supply of silicon materials by overhauling or stopping production, which has increased the silicon wafer output rate, and the listing of futures is expected to accelerate inventory turnover and drive demand. In addition, head silicon material companies are expected to cross the cycle with cost control and operational advantages.
Golden industrial concept stocks continue to decline. As of the close, sd gold(01787) fell by 3.32%, to 15.72 Hong Kong dollars; chinagoldintl(02099) fell by 2.75%, to 40.6 Hong Kong dollars; zijin mining group(02899) fell by 2.63%, to 14.8 Hong Kong dollars.
Recently, the trend of gold has been under pressure due to broader market sell-offs caused by increasing concerns about a global economic downturn. Institutional analysis believes that under the influence of panic, a large number of investors sold gold for liquidity, and the reduction of long positions led to passive downward pressure on gold. Although the overall decline in risk assets and expectations of a recession are positive for precious metals as safe-haven assets, the short-term liquidity realization will still be a drag, and there may be some room for adjustment in the future. Institutions point out that there is some room for short-term adjustment in gold, but the driving logic of central bank gold purchases and interest rate reductions still exists in the medium and long term.
Insurance stocks fell sharply. As of the close, china pacific insurance(02601) fell by 10.4%, to 18.1 Hong Kong dollars; china life insurance(02628) fell by 4.54%, to 10.1 Hong Kong dollars; new china life insurance(01336) fell by 1.49%, to 14.56 Hong Kong dollars.
Insurance stocks continued to decline today, with China Pacific Insurance falling more than 12% at one point leading the sector. According to Caijing.com.cn, a person related to China Pacific Insurance said that the company's fundamentals are normal and that it is paying attention to trends in stock prices. At present, it is believed that changes in overseas markets (volatility in the Japanese and Korean stock markets) are one of the more important reasons for the decline in stock prices.
On August 2nd, the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission issued a notice on improving the pricing mechanism for life insurance products, proposing for the first time a dynamic adjustment mechanism for scheduled interest rates and market interest rates. At the same time, the targeted interest rates for ordinary life insurance, dividend insurance and universal insurance were again lowered, and the upper limits were adjusted to 2.5%, 2% and 1.5%, respectively.
Popular fluctuating stocks
Yum China (09987) rose after its performance report was released. As of the close, it rose by 10.59%, to 252.8 Hong Kong dollars.
Yum China released its Q2 2024 performance report. During the reporting period, the company achieved steady growth on the basis of a high base from the previous year, with total revenue and operating profit reaching new highs for the second quarter, and profits reaching their highest level since the spin-off and listing. Excluding the impact of foreign currency conversion, the company's total revenue increased by 4% year-on-year in the period, reaching 2.68 billion US dollars, and the operating profit margin increased to 9.9%. The core operating profit increased by 12% year-on-year to 275 million US dollars.
XD Inc. (02400) released positive earnings news. As of the close, it rose by 6.81%, to 22.75 Hong Kong dollars.
XD Inc. announced its earnings report, expecting to achieve revenue of approximately RMB 2.18 billion to RMB 2.23 billion and a net income of approximately RMB 220 million to RMB 270 million for the six months ending on June 30, 2024, with a year-on-year increase of approximately 24.4% to 27.2% and 114.0% to 162.7%, respectively.
Dazhong Public Utilities (01635) A shares plummeted, closing at HKD 1.59, down 12.15%.
Dazhong Public Utilities, which holds 26.87% of Dazhong Transportation Group Co., Ltd., has been repeatedly speculated recently. Yesterday, its stock price rose by more than 15%. Dazhong Public Utilities primarily operates businesses such as gas and sewerage. The investments in Dazhong Transportation are accounted for under the equity method, and relevant matters will not have a direct impact on performance.
New stocks debut.
Zhongmiao Holdings (01471) rebounded in the late trading session after falling 13% during the day. It rose by 5% to HKD 7.35 when the market closed.
Zhongmiao Holdings is a provider of insurance agency services in Shandong Province, China. It priced its shares at HKD 7 per share and issued a total of 35.3 million shares, with 500 shares per lot, raising a net amount of approximately HKD 196 million. The company is committed to distributing various insurance products, including property insurance products, life and health insurance products, accident insurance products, and auto insurance products, to enterprise and household insurance users.