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The Chinese A-share market continued its rebound on Thursday, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing above 3,200 points after a 1.16 percent gain. The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 2.25 percent and the tech-heavy ChiNext Index rose 2.27 percent.
More than 4,900 stocks in the market closed higher, and more than 200 stocks hit the daily limit or rose more than 10 percent. By sector, e-commerce, consumer electronics, baby products and duty-free companies were among the top gainers.
Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund, told the Global Times on Thursday that many stocks surged sharply, leading to a comprehensive rebound, noting that this came as China firmly announced countermeasures against US unilateral protectionist tariffs, showing unwavering resolve against US coercion.
China has launched
a raft of measures against the US tariffs, including lifting the additional tariffs on goods imported from the US to 84 percent, and adding a number of US companies to its export control list and its unreliable entity list.
Yang noted that China has a complete industrial chain and abundant policy reserves, enabling the country to unleash domestic demand and counterbalance fluctuations in foreign trade.
"Meanwhile, institutional investors like insurance and social security funds are expanding their equity investment allocations. Listed companies are planning share increases and repurchases. All these actions boosted confidence in the market," Yang added.
While the US tariff policies have disrupted global capital markets, Chinese assets, with their strong resilience, are serving as the ballast of the market, according to several foreign-funded institutions.
Meng Lei, a strategist at UBS Securities Co, said in a note sent to the Global Times that since 2024, Chinese regulatory authorities have been promoting the entry of long-term funds into the A-share market. The long-term funds, with their stable management style and long investment horizon, can be the ballast of the market and further stabilize it.
Meng estimated that in 2025, the Chinese stock market is expected to witness net capital inflows from various sources. Specifically, insurance companies are projected to bring in 1 trillion yuan ($136 billion), public funds are likely to contribute 590 billion yuan, and the social security fund is anticipated to inject 120 billion yuan.
Liu Jinjin, chief China equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, wrote in a note that as external risks intensify, domestic-centered and policy-driven investment opportunities emerge.
The recent rally demonstrated the market's confidence that the Chinese economy will not be overly affected by the tariff war, Dong Shaopeng, a senior research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, told the Global Times on Thursday.
"For the same reason, foreign investors are bullish on China. This is because China has a relatively stable market and stable policy expectations. Moreover, the growth in consumption and investment is also clear," Dong added.
Between 9 am on Wednesday and 8 am on Thursday, 15 more centrally administered state-owned enterprises announced shareholding increases and repurchases, a display of optimism about the capital market that strengthened investors' confidence, according to a post on the WeChat account of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
China's financial market regulators and the state-backed
"national team" have acted swiftly to ensure stock market stability.
Central Huijin, a state-owned investment company, has emphasized its commitment to acting as a stabilizer in the market, pledging to "step in decisively when necessary to curb abnormal fluctuations."
While the People's Bank of China, the central bank, has said that it firmly supports Central Huijin in increasing its holdings of stock market index funds and will provide the investor with sufficient re-lending support when necessary, resolutely maintaining the smooth operation of the capital market.
