HK Stock Market Move | Chinese brokerage stocks rebounded in the morning session, and brokerage mergers and reorganizations may accelerate. Institutions say that the performance forecast of brokerage firms for 2024 may become a catalyst for the sector.

In the morning trading session, Chinese brokerage stocks rebounded. As of the release of this report, CMSC (06099) rose by 4.07% to 13.8 Hong Kong dollars; Guolian (01456) rose by 3.69% to 3.93 Hong Kong dollars; GF SEC (01776) rose by 2.56% to 10.02 Hong Kong dollars; China Galaxy (06881) rose by 1.86% to 6.56 Hong Kong dollars. On the news front, on January 9, Guotai Junan and Haitong announced in a statement that their merger and reorganization plan has been approved by the Shanghai Stock Exchange M&A Review Committee. On January 13, Guolian announced in a statement that the company's Chinese name is proposed to be changed to Guolian Minsheng Securities Co., Ltd., and the company's A and H share stock abbreviations are both proposed to be changed to Guolian Minsheng. Zhonghang Securities believes that brokerage consolidation will help improve concentration, and expects the industry's mergers and reorganizations to continue to accelerate. In addition, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, in December 2024, the number of new A-share accounts was 1.989 million, a decrease of 26% compared to the previous month but an increase of 75% compared to the same period last year. The total number of new accounts for 2024 was 25 million, a 17% increase from the previous year. Open Source Securities pointed out that although the number of new accounts in December fell month-on-month, the year-on-year increase was still high, and they are focusing on the market trading volume and turnover rate improvement. The firm stated that traditional brokerage valuations are still low and have not fully reflected the expected improvement in profits for 2024 and 2025. The announcement of 2024 performance forecasts by brokerage firms in January 2025 may serve as a catalyst for the sector.