Israel: Suspend attacks on Iran! Asia-Pacific stock markets, all-out surge!

On April 8th, the Asia-Pacific markets exploded across the board, with the Nikkei 225 index soaring 5.39%, the Korea Composite Index up 6.87%, the Australian S&P/ASX 200 index rising 2.55%, and the New Zealand S&P 50 index increasing 1.4%.

Major A-shares indices all surged significantly, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising nearly 3% to approach the 4,000-point mark, the ChiNext Index and the Sci-Tech Innovation Board Index both up nearly 6%; Hong Kong stocks also performed strongly, with the Hang Seng Index up over 3% and the Hang Seng Tech Index up over 5% as of the report.

Specifically, both markets opened higher and continued to rise sharply during the session, with a large unilateral upward trend. By the close, the Shanghai Composite rose 2.7% to 3,995 points, the Shenzhen Component Index increased 4.79%, the ChiNext Index up 5.91%, and the Sci-Tech Innovation Board Index up 5.64%. The combined turnover of the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing markets was approximately 24.5 trillion yuan, nearly 24.5k yuan more than the previous day.

Over 5,100 A-shares were in the green, with the semiconductor sector showing strong momentum. Kweichow Moutai hit the daily limit up by 20%, Zhenlei Technology, Shengke Communications, and Huahai Chengke all rose over 10%; gold concept stocks were active, with Hunan Gold, Sichuan Gold, and Western Gold hitting the daily limit; the brokerage sector also advanced, with First Venture Capital hitting the limit in the afternoon, and Eastmoney up over 5%; computing power concept stocks exploded, with Xingyun Technology and Pingzhi Information hitting the daily limit at 20%, Hongjing Technology approaching the limit during trading to set new highs; CPO concept stocks rose, with Zhongji Xuchuang ( 300308 ) up about 11%, reaching new highs, with a daily turnover of 26.48 billion yuan, ranking first in A-share trading volume; Suning Commerce ( 300502 ) rose over 9%, breaking the 500 yuan mark and also reaching new highs; the oil sector reversed course and plunged, with Tongyuan Petroleum down over 10%, Beiken Energy, Zhongman Petroleum, and others hitting the daily limit down, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) fell about 6%, and China Petroleum dropped nearly 5%. Additionally, the seven-day streak of limit-up for Jinyao Pharmaceutical reversed and declined.

On the news front, U.S. President Trump posted on social media on the 7th that: “I agree to suspend bombing and attacks on Iran for two weeks.” Iranian Foreign Minister Alaghazi announced early on the 8th on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council that the Strait of Hormuz will be safe for navigation for two weeks. The Israeli Defense Forces announced on the 8th that they have paused strikes on Iran but remain on high alert.

Semiconductor Sector Strong

The semiconductor sector surged strongly. By the close, Kweichow Moutai hit the daily limit up by 20%, Aisen Shares and Zhenlei Technology rose over 15%, Shengke Communications, Huahai Chengke, and China Resources Microelectronics all gained over 10%.

In Hong Kong stocks, as of the report, Huahong Semiconductor rose over 14%, SMIC and Fudan Shanghai both increased over 10%.

Industry-wise, recently, SEMICON CHINA 2026 held in Shanghai attracted over 1,500 exhibitors and 180k professional visitors. The collective appearance and technological implementation of domestic semiconductor equipment industry chain companies became the most watched aspect of this year’s exhibition. Additionally, leading domestic equipment manufacturers released new products intensively, and competition in some niche segments intensified.

CITIC Securities believes that SEMICON CHINA 2026 demonstrates three major trends: China’s semiconductor industry has shifted from single-point breakthroughs to full industry chain rise, from mature process to advanced process breakthroughs, and from domestic market expansion to global market development. As domestic semiconductor equipment, components, and materials gradually break through all links, and advanced process products are mass-produced, reliance on overseas supply continues to decline, with domestic companies becoming the core drivers of industry growth. It is also expected that leading domestic wafer fabs will continue to expand capacity, accelerate the construction of advanced process lines, and provide huge market space for domestic equipment and materials, further promoting domestic substitution. In the long term, driven by demand for AI computing power, advanced storage, and new energy, the domestic semiconductor industry will remain highly prosperous. Domestic substitution is the most certain mainline, and with technological breakthroughs, cost advantages, and service capabilities, local companies are expected to occupy a more important position in the global semiconductor landscape, ushering in long-term growth opportunities.

Computing Power Concept Explodes

The computing power concept surged strongly during the session. By the close, Xingyun Technology and Pingzhi Information hit the daily limit at 20%; Hongjing Technology rose nearly 18%, approaching the daily limit and setting new highs during trading; UCloud, Yuntian Lifei, and Qingyun Technology all gained over 10%.

Industry-wise, with the explosion of Agent applications and multimodal ecosystems, global token usage is entering a new round of rapid growth. SemiAnalysis data shows that the rental prices for computing power are trending upward. By April 2026, overseas H100 rental prices increased 40% over five months. The current high prosperity of the computing power rental industry mainly stems from supply-demand mismatches in the domestic computing power market, with downstream large models and internet companies experiencing explosive demand, while some domestic high-end chips are constrained by foundry capacity bottlenecks, making the advantage of leading rental companies holding high-end computing chips more prominent.

CITIC Securities states that with the explosion of Agent applications and multimodal ecosystems, capital expenditure and computing power demand are mismatched, and global token usage is entering a new phase of accelerated growth. Over the past two years, the cloud industry chain is expected to enter a period of simultaneous volume and price growth. Demand pushes up prices, and the cloud industry chain enters a cycle of volume and price increase. Regarding computing power leasing, high-quality computing chips are in tight supply, and leading leasing firms have a clear advantage, with higher leverage increasing high growth certainty. It is recommended to focus on cloud industry chain and computing power leasing-related targets.

Gold Concept Active

Gold concept stocks showed active trading during the session. By the close, Hunan Gold, Sichuan Gold, Western Gold, and China National Gold all hit the daily limit.

International gold prices surged today, with COMEX gold rising over 4% intraday, breaking through the $4,800 per ounce level.

Institutions say that recently, as liquidity pressures recover and expectations of rate cuts warm, gold prices have been pushed higher. However, it should be noted that although recent negotiations have signaled easing, core disagreements between the U.S. and Iran have not been truly resolved, geopolitical uncertainties remain, and combined with ongoing global central bank gold purchases, rising U.S. fiscal and debt pressures, and the approaching long-term cycle of monetary easing, the overall upward logic for gold remains intact.

Proofreader: Ran Yanqing