In June, the one-year and five-year LPR in mainland China remained unchanged as expected. U.S. President Trump announced a decision on whether to attack Iran within two weeks. U.S. stock futures rebounded, and Hong Kong stocks rose. The Hang Seng Index opened 53 points higher and then expanded its gains, reaching a peak of 300 points to 23,538. It ended the day gaining 292 points or 1.3%, closing at 23,530. The National Index rose 116 points or 1.4%, closing at 8,527. The Hang Seng TECH Index increased by 44 points or 0.8%, closing at 5,133. The total turnover for the market for the day was 222.423 billion HKD.
The market anticipates that there may be a reduction in the five-year LPR in mainland China in the second half of the year. Shares of China Mainland Banking, such as ICBC (01398.HK) and CCB (00939.HK), rose by 2.8% and 3.3%, respectively. Investors expect a decrease in high-interest insurance products, leading to a surge in domestic insurance stocks like China Life (02628.HK) by 4.7%, and other stocks like PING AN (02318.HK), CHINA TAIPING (00966.HK), and PICC (01339.HK) rose by 2.8% to 3.4%. Other financial stocks such as HSBC (00005.HK), Hong Kong Exchanges (00388.HK), and AIA (01299.HK) increased by 0.7% to 1.6%, while Standard Chartered (02888.HK) rose by 3.4%.
In the Technology sector, Alibaba (09988.HK), Tencent (00700.HK), SMIC (00981.HK), and Bilibili (09626.HK) increased by 1.4% to 1.7%. JD.com (09618.HK), NetEase (09999.HK), Kuaishou (01024.HK), and Baidu (09888.HK) saw increases of less than 1%. New Oriental (09901.HK) and PA GOODDOCTOR (01833.HK) rose by 2.4% and 2.6%, respectively. Meituan's 618 flash purchase saw user orders exceed 100 million, with more than 60 categories of product transaction values doubling. Meituan (03690.HK) rose by 0.2%. Sunny Optical (02382.HK) increased by 4%, with brokerages citing management's forecast of over a fourfold increase in shipments of glass-plastic hybrid lenses this year to meet the demand for optical upgrades for long-focus periscopes and smaller, ultra-thin main cameras.
In the automotive sector, Geely (00175.HK) and NIO (09866.HK) rose by 2.1% and 2.7%, respectively, while BYD (01211.HK) and Xiaomi (01810.HK) increased by 1% and 1.9%. The Battery sector saw Contemporary Amperex Technology (03750.HK) rise by 0.1%. In the consumer sector, VIVA GOODS (00933.HK) invested 0.275 billion HKD to increase its shareholding in LI NING (02331.HK), resulting in LI NING rising by 4.8% and VIVA GOODS soaring by 17.6%. POP MART (09992.HK) fell by 3.6%, Bloks Group (00325.HK) dropped by 9.7%, and an article in the People's Daily called for increased regulation of blind box sales. The gambling stocks MGM CHINA (02282.HK) and Melco International (00200.HK) rebounded by 4% and 3.9%. CHOW TAI FOOK (01929.HK) in the gold retail sector rose by 4.1%.
In the pharmaceuticals sector, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (01276.HK) was included in the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect target securities list, with its stock price rising initially before closing down by 1.1%. CanSino Biologics Inc. (06185.HK), Rongchang (09995.HK), and CMS (00867.HK) rose between 3.6% and 4.5%, while China National Pharmaceutical Group (01177.HK) rose by 2.9%.
It is reported that Shanghai New World (00017.HK) is close to reaching an agreement regarding a 87.5 billion HKD loan refinancing plan, with its shares rising by 5.4%. The domestic property sector saw R&F Properties (02777.HK) increase by 5.5%, while New Town (01030.HK) and Sunac (01918.HK) rose by 4.1% and 3.6%, respectively.
