China stocks rise to 10-year high as chip, gold shares surge post-holiday

China’s stock market opened higher Thursday after a weeklong break, as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and gold shares helped offset signs of weak consumer spending.

The onshore CSI 300 Index rose as much as 1.9% after the opening. A gauge of Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong advanced as much as 0.6%. The onshore yuan weakened 0.1% against the dollar.


Gold and chip stocks were among the top drivers of Thursday’s onshore gains. The tech sub-index jumped over 5%, boosted by Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc.’s record surge. The materials gauge rose as much as 5.7%, boosted by Jiangxi Copper Co. and Shandong Gold Mining Co.

Lingering signs of economic sluggishness, reflected in underwhelming holiday spending, weren’t enough to dampen investor enthusiasm for AI. Some investors were hopeful that the global AI frenzy, fueled by companies touting OpenAI ties and sending tech stocks to fresh highs while China was closed, would spill over into Chinese markets.

The onshore market’s Thursday performance isn’t surprising given that “Asian markets have generally been firm when the CSI 300 was closed,” said Christopher Leow, chief investment officer of Singapore (head of Asia Ex-Japan equities) at Principal Asset Management. “We’re seeing continued appetites for semiconductor wafer equipment localization, investment into AI related initiatives, robotics, and sustainable high-dividend yielding companies.

Traders are also turning their attention to policy signals ahead of the Communist Party’s Oct. 20-23 meeting, where the blueprint for the 15th five-year plan will be outlined. The Trump-Xi meeting at the APEC summit in South Korea could add another catalyst if tariff talks resume.

The CSI 300 Index climbed for five straight months through September, its longest winning streak since 2017, led by enthusiasm over chip stocks after DeepSeek’s unveiling of an updated AI model and Huawei Technologies Co.’s plan to double output of its top AI chips.

Despite the rally, Chinese equities remain much cheaper than their peers. The MSCI China Index traded at below 13.5 times forward earnings — far below the S&P 500’s valuation at 23 times, according to Bloomberg-compiled data.

“If high-growth Chinese names, particularly in the internet space, can deliver on their potential earnings, they’re looking very attractive relative to global peers,” said Ian Samson, a multi-asset portfolio manager at Fidelity International in Singapore.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-markets-reopen-show-ai-230000461.html