HK Stock Market Move | State-owned insurance stocks rise again with more than 90% of the net profit of multiple insurance companies in the first half of the year surpassing from a year earlier. Institutions continue to have a positive outlook on the industry's premium income growth.

Domestic insurance stocks continued to rise. As of the time of writing, Ping An Insurance (02318) rose by 3.78% to HK$37.10; CHINA TAIPING (00966) rose by 3.73% to HK$9.74; China Pacific Insurance (02601) rose by 3.44% to HK$21.05; New China Life Insurance (01336) rose by 3.24% to HK$16.58. According to statistics, in the first half of 2024, the five listed insurance companies on the Hong Kong stock market have already exceeded 90% of the previous year's annual net profit. The five insurance companies accumulated operating income of 1.27 trillion yuan and a net profit of 171.799 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 7.41% and 12.55% respectively. Guotai Junan Securities predicts that regulatory measures to guide the industry to lower product pricing rates will benefit in reducing debt costs, effectively lowering long-term interest rate risks. In addition, strong customer savings demand, coupled with channel fee control and product structure optimization, are expected to achieve a prosperous growth in NBV for the whole year. Guosen points out that since August, the life insurance industry has been switching products, driving rapid growth in short-term premium income. With the continuous switch of remaining products in September and the low base last year, they are optimistic about the year-on-year increase in industry premium income. Furthermore, with the expansion of premium income scale, it is favorable for insurance funds to allocate high dividends (OCI equity) and long-term debt assets, which is a relatively stable source of incremental funds in the current market.