[Focus Review] A-shares surge in volume across the board to welcome a "good start" in April, with AI hardware and innovative drug concepts leading the gains

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Cailian Press, April 1st: Today, 56 stocks hit the daily limit, 38 stocks were halted from hitting the limit, with a board-hitting rate of 60%. TsinPharm hit four consecutive limits, Aoruite and Dashengda hit 6 limits in 11 days, Ji’an Medical hit 3 limits in 4 days, and Mingpu Optoelectronics hit 3 limits in 6 days. The market opened high and fluctuated, with all three major indices rising over 1%, and the Sci-Tech Innovation Board 50 Index up over 3%. The combined trading volume of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets was 2.01 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.9 billion yuan compared to the previous trading day. On the sector front, market hotspots rotated rapidly, with nearly 4,500 stocks rising across the market. In terms of sectors, gaming, hotel and catering, innovative drugs, and fiberglass led the gains; sports, high-speed rail and subway, coal, and oil and gas sectors lagged behind. By the close, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.46%, the Shenzhen Component Index increased 1.7%, and the ChiNext Index gained 1.96%.

Popularity and Continuous Limit Stocks Analysis

The upgrade rate of stocks hitting the limit for the first time dropped to 12.5%, with TsinPharm, which achieved four consecutive limits, becoming the only stock in the entire market with three or more limits. While the continuous limit rally remains sluggish, the upgrade rate of first-limit stocks is also poor; yesterday, only 4 out of more than 30 first-limit stocks managed to upgrade. Additionally, high-level stocks performed poorly overall; green energy popular stocks Huadian Liaoning and Guangxi Energy both hit the limit down, and the coal chemical industry’s popular stock Jinneng Technology experienced three consecutive declines, facing selling pressure. As the oversold growth tracks rebounded broadly, several previously active independent logical directions showed divergence and adjustment. High-speed rail and local stocks in Fujian faced pressure, and the stock concept of Zhangxue Locomotive, which surged in the afternoon, also showed differentiation. Recently, some listed companies’ earnings reports still negatively impact the secondary market; for example, the leading energy storage company Sunshine Power, which saw a significant quarter-on-quarter decline in Q4 last year, closed down over 10%, and market uncertainty about corporate earnings continues to influence risk appetite this month.

Mainline Hotspots

Last night, Nvidia announced a $2 billion investment in Marvell, with both companies jointly developing silicon photonics technology and custom XPU. On the same day, TSMC announced that its silicon photonics integration platform COUPE is expected to enter mass production this year. These major developments from two giants reignited the computing hardware industry chain, with ZhiliCube, Mingpu Optoelectronics, and Yongding shares hitting the daily limit, and Tianfu Communication, Zhongji Xuchuang, and Yuanjie Technology rising over 5%. Additionally, hardware sectors such as liquid cooling and PCB also performed well; DingTong Technology hit the 20-centimeter limit-up, and Shandong fiberglass and Zhaolang Intelligent both hit the limit. The high correlation between the performance of computing hardware and US stock market benchmarks, along with the high certainty of overseas large manufacturers’ capital expenditure this year, still easily drives mainstream funds to quickly replenish positions in the computing hardware sector when the market stabilizes. However, most heavyweight stocks within the sector are accumulating chips near all-time highs, which remains a main reason why the sector struggles to sustain upward trends. Some small-cap stocks with significant marginal performance improvements may be more resilient.

Yesterday, Zhipu released its 2025 performance forecast, with annual recurring revenue from its MaaS API platform rising to 1.7 billion yuan, a 60-fold increase year-over-year. In Q1 2026, Zhipu’s API call pricing increased by 83%, with call volume growing 400%. The concept of computing power leasing is making a comeback, with Aoruite, Meili Yun, Hengrui, and Jialitu all hitting the limit-up, and Hongjing Technology and UCloud both rising over 10%. As the enthusiasm for computing power leasing rekindles, application-side stocks that previously experienced deep adjustments are also showing signs of rebound; Ji’an Medical, which holds stakes in multiple large models, hit the limit-up, completing three limits in four days, and gaming stocks Perfect World and GigaMedia both hit the limit. Factors that previously suppressed the overall AI application trend include market uncertainty about the timing of performance realization and fears related to the global HALO trading and Middle East geopolitical risks. As the market gradually digests the impact of Middle East tensions, the deep oversold application sector is also beginning to recover.

Recently, the semiconductor industry chain has seen intensive catalysts. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the “2026 Semiconductor Industry Innovation Development Special Action Plan,” focusing on five key areas: advanced process, storage, equipment, materials, and EDA. Several domestic equipment leaders launched new products at SEMICON China 2026. Although storage chip stocks like Demingli, which announced significant Q1 performance growth, quickly fell back after an early surge, the overall performance of sectors like computing chips and semiconductor equipment remains strong, with Huitong Zhen, Bocheng Shares hitting the limit-up, and ChipXing rising over 10%. Cambrian’s stock price returned above 1,000 yuan. Despite recent fluctuations in domestic memory prices affecting storage stocks, the HBM expansion driven by the AI wave and the standardization of domestic computing solutions through super-node schemes have created a resonance in the upstream semiconductor equipment sector both domestically and internationally.

Yesterday, Eli Lilly announced the acquisition of biotech company Centesa for a total transaction scale of $7.8 billion, boosting the US biotech index by 7.5% in a single day. The global innovative drug market also responded positively, with the Hang Seng Innovation Drug Index soaring over 8%, approaching the high point set on January 14 this year. In the A-share market, CXO popular stocks like Kelai Ying hit two consecutive limits, and Rongchang Biotech, Xinlitao, Wanbond, and Yuandong Biotech hit new historical highs during trading. Stocks like Guangsheng Tang and Ruizhi Pharmaceuticals also hit the daily limit. Besides the significant valuation re-rating driven by Lilly’s major acquisition, the sustained rapid growth of BD (business development) funding effectively alleviates financing pressures for domestic innovative drug companies and indirectly benefits related stocks in the secondary market. In the second quarter, two major conferences for the innovative drug industry will be held: the AACR 2026 Annual Meeting in mid-month and the ASCO 2026 Annual Meeting at the end of the month. For high-quality targets that have announced major clinical data at these conferences, active exploration remains promising.

Market Outlook

Supported by the overnight US stock rally and the broad gains in Japan, South Korea, and other neighboring markets this morning, the A-share market opened with a broad rally in April. However, behind this rally, market bullishness remains restrained. First, the three major indices showed significantly narrowed fluctuations throughout the day; the Shanghai Composite barely recovered the gap left from last Monday before entering a consolidation phase. Second, the total trading volume across both markets only slightly increased, barely exceeding 2 trillion yuan. Third, doubts remain about whether the Middle East tensions will truly ease this month and about the earnings performance of listed companies. Based on recent active rotation in oversold sectors like innovative drugs, AI applications, and consumer sectors, funds are still in a “trial-and-error” phase. Therefore, the current market style remains chaotic. As the Shanghai Composite gradually approaches the 20-day moving average and the 4,000-point mark, the risk of some short-term funds taking profits should be noted.

Today’s Limit-up Analysis Chart

(Contributed by Cailian Press, Jin Haoming)