HK Stock Market Move | Mainland banking stocks generally rose in the morning session, with insurance funds intensively acquiring shares of banks this year. Institutions say that H-share banks are more attractive compared to A-share banks.

In the morning session, the domestic bank stocks rose across the board. As of the time of writing, China Minsheng Banking Corp., Ltd. (01988) rose by 3.82% to HK$4.62; CITIC BANK (00998) rose by 3.21% to HK$7.72; China Construction Bank Corporation (00939) rose by 2.53% to HK$8.12; Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (01398) rose by 1.93% to HK$6.34. On the news front, on June 24th, Ping An Life Insurance announced on the official website of the China Insurance Industry Association that it has increased its holdings of 6.2955 million shares of China Merchants Bank H shares. Following this increase, Ping An Life Insurance's stake in China Merchants Bank H shares has exceeded 15%, triggering a takeover bid. Changjiang pointed out that as of June 20th, there have been 19 takeover bids by insurance funds since 2025, approaching the total number for the whole of last year. Among these 19 takeover bids, 9 were for bank stocks, and 7 were for Hong Kong-listed bank stocks. CICC recently reiterated in a research report that it is optimistic about the relative and absolute returns of banks, with H shares outperforming A shares. The institution's analysis states that the current insurance liability costs are relatively high compared to the majority of financial asset yields, leading to an increased demand for high dividend assets represented by banks. Compared to public funds, investing in Hong Kong-listed stocks with insurance funds can exempt dividends tax, making H-share bank stocks relatively more attractive than A-share bank stocks.