China’s AI and tech sector is advancing rapidly, driven by a skilled workforce, strong government support, and a vast data ecosystem. The launch of DeepSeek’s latest AI model highlights China’s ability to innovate despite US technology restrictions. Entrepreneurs and engineers continue to push boundaries, making breakthroughs in AI applications. With robust venture capital backing and a thriving startup culture, China is cementing its position as a global AI leader.

In December, the Chinese equity market experienced a rise followed by a pullback. However, offshore (Hong Kong) stocks still ended the month in positive territory, helping the overall indices to a positive end to the year. Benefitting from the year-end effect, dividend stocks have risen, while certain AI-related concepts still have momentum. Overall, the market remained in a consolidation phase following the rally since late September.

In November, the Chinese equity market showed significant volatility, with a pattern of early gains followed by a pullback. Small-cap stocks continued to outperform large-cap stocks. The MSCI China, MSCI China A Onshore and MSCI China All Share Indices declined by 4.5%, 1.5%, and 3.3%, respectively. Although the market was down overall, there were some positive sectors including banks, other financials and telecommunications.

In October, the Chinese equity market saw mixed performance across indices, with small-cap stocks continuing to outperform large-cap stocks. Major indices, which are primarily dominated by large-cap stocks, all experienced corrections. Market sentiment fluctuated between optimism and caution, as onshore "hot money" flowed into the market, while some institutional investors remained on the sidelines, waiting for further policy clarity.

In September 2024 the Chinese equity markets experienced a substantial rebound. Driven by favourable policy measures, market sentiment was notably boosted. Among sectors, real estate, internet, and financials were the top performers, rising by 25.1%, 22.1% and 15.6%, respectively. The real estate sector led the gains, largely benefiting from various government measures aimed at stabilising the property market.

In August, the Chinese equity market experienced a series of fluctuations, largely driven by weaker quarterly earnings reports from many companies. Additionally, the opening of closed-end funds for redemption triggered localised liquidity events. In terms of sectors, petrochemicals and coal showed relative resilience, whereas national defence, agriculture, beauty, construction materials, and steel faced the most adjustments. Nevertheless, some sectors still exhibited overall growth and marginal improvements in quarterly performance, such as agriculture, telecommunications, electronics, insurance, wind power, chemical materials, and industrial metals.

Chinese equity markets experienced a dynamic month in July, but all indices ultimately ended down. While most major sectors performed better than the previous month, the cyclical sector lagged, revealing clear differences among various sub-sectors. Among all sectors, non-bank financials ranked first, while national defence also did relatively well. In contrast, the energy and consumer sectors, particularly coal, textiles, petrochemicals, light manufacturing, and non-ferrous metals, were the main contributors to the overall downtrend.

Chinese equity markets dipped in June, with sector rotations continuing at a relatively fast pace and trading volume experiencing a slight decline. Real estate transactions showed a mild year-on-year (YoY) recovery following the release of a mid-May real estate policy package. From 1 to 29 June, the YoY growth rate of new home transactions in 60 cities and second-hand home transactions in 26 cities improved to -24.7% and +14.4%, respectively, from -37.5% and -4.7% in the previous month. Although mid-month credit and inflation data fell slightly below expectations, the overall economy continued to improve, with good export, employment and industrial production indicators. 

Chinese equity markets demonstrated mixed performance amid a dynamic economic landscape in May. In the first half of the month, A-shares experienced slight fluctuations and a modest upward trend as a resurgence in travel activity during the May Day holiday boosted the consumer sector. Although mid-month credit and inflation data fell slightly below expectations, the overall economy continued to improve, with good export, employment and industrial production indicators.