(Feb 24): China’s onshore shares rose as traders returned from a nine-day Lunar New Year break, with optimism about lower US tariffs and homegrown technologies offsetting mixed signals on holiday spending.
The benchmark CSI 300 Index advanced as much as 1.4% in Tuesday morning trade, with hardware tech shares among the top performers. Hong Kong stocks retreated after a Monday rally.
The gains suggest investors welcome the US Supreme Court’s decision Friday to strike down President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs. While Trump later announced plans for a 15% global rate, Morgan Stanley estimates that the average levies on goods from China will decline to 24% from 32%. Humanoid robots showing off their skills at the nation’s annual Spring Festival gala also reinforced confidence in China’s technological progress.
“China is going into the upcoming meeting with the US in a stronger position after the Supreme Court tariff ruling,” said Gary Tan, a portfolio manager at Allspring Global Investments in Singapore. “And retail investor sentiment improved after the Lunar New Year, helped by the positive signals on tech progress shown during the 2026 Spring Festival Gala.”
Chinese stocks have lagged global peers this year, as regulators sought to rein in speculative exuberance in some corners of the market, ranging from rocket stocks to AI application names. While that has taken steam off the broader market, strong gains seen in media stocks following ByteDance’s video-generating app earlier highlight investors’ willingness to chase AI winners.
The travel and spending data from the holiday period have so far sent conflicting signals on consumption. While shares of China Railway Group Ltd rose as much as 10% on an upbeat outlook of domestic travel numbers, film stocks tumbled after Citigroup said box office sales during the break missed estimates.
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“Holiday activities would offer some clues of the breadth and depth of the demand recovery, but the Chinese government’s recent reiteration of AI as a national priority, along with the anticipated launch of the DeepSeek model in February, could also reignite investor interest in China’s technology sector,” said Xingchen Yu, emerging markets strategist at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Elsewhere, the onshore yuan also resumed trading on Tuesday with a 0.1% gain versus the dollar, likely playing catchup with its offshore counterpart that strengthened about 0.2% during the holiday period.
China’s 10-year government bond yield was steady at 1.78%, after banks left their benchmark lending rates unchanged.
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