China's A-share market opened lower and weakened into the midsession. At midday
the Shanghai Composite fell 0.93%, the Shenzhen Composite Index fell 2.55%, the
ChiNext Index fell 3.63% and the STAR 50 Index fell over 4%. Combined turnover
on Shanghai and Shenzhen was 986.7 bln yuan in the first half-day, down 26.9 bln
yuan from the prior session. More than 4,700 stocks were down. Banks bucked the
market decline: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction
Bank hit fresh highs and the Big Four banks' combined market value topped 10
trln yuan; regional lenders such as Qingdao Bank and Chengdu Bank were among top
gainers. Space-computing names were active, with several stocks including
Shanghai Hugong hitting daily limits. Coal, telecoms and oil & gas led sector
gains. Communication equipment stocks corrected—most fell; Tianfu Communication
dropped about 19%. Components, semiconductors and CPO-linked stocks were among
the largest decliners.
