China’s stock market showed a familiar tug-of-war on Tuesday: headline indices finished flat to slightly higher while the broad market weakened sharply. After an early sell-off that briefly sent the ChiNext (创业板) down more than 1%, the index recovered to close up 0.44%. The Shanghai Composite ended essentially unchanged (+0.03%) and the Shenzhen Component slipped 0.37%, even as turnover thinned to ¥1.87 trillion — about ¥367.4 billion below the prior trading day.
The session was characterised by concentrated strength in a handful of thematic pockets rather than broad-based buying. Precious-metal miners continued to outperform, with China Gold (中国黄金) posting a third consecutive trading-limit-up and Hunan Gold (湖南黄金) extending gains. Semiconductor-equipment names rallied, led by XinYuan Micro (芯源微) which rose almost 14%, while YiXiang Integration (亚翔集成) and Shenghui Integration (圣晖集成) hit daily涨停 levels. Several small-cap, commodity-linked themes — including CPO-related names and superhard-materials stocks — also staged sharp moves and new highs.
Beneath the selective gains, selling was pervasive. More than 4,400 listed issues finished the day lower, and the battery industry chain fell collectively, with Tianji (天际股份) touching a limit-down. The contrast between a handful of limit-up winners and a broad swathe of decliners produced muted index returns that mask a market suffering from weak breadth and narrower participation.
Taken together, the picture points to a market driven by thematic rotation and idiosyncratic flows rather than a broad cyclical recovery. Investors have rotated into commodity-exposed miners and niche tech suppliers, areas that can be moved quickly by price swings, policy signals or single-stock catalysts. The drop in overall turnover suggests reduced conviction: fewer investors are trading aggressively, and moves are amplified by China’s daily limit-up/limit-down mechanism.
For domestic and international market-watchers, the immediate implication is caution. If rally leadership remains concentrated in commodity and small-cap themes, headline index stability will be fragile and vulnerable to profit-taking or reversals in underlying commodity prices. Conversely, sustained strength in semiconductor-equipment names could signal a more meaningful pick-up in tech capex, but that would require confirmation in coming sessions and supporting macro or policy developments.