HK Stock Market Move | LAOPU GOLD (06181) falls over 5% again, Citigroup significantly downgrades the company's target price, while JP Morgan points out that the market is underestimating the company's efforts to deal with gold price fluctuations.

LAOPU GOLD (06181) fell by more than 5%, dropping by 5.29% to 461.6 Hong Kong dollars as of press time, with a trading volume of 1.88 billion Hong Kong dollars. On the news front, Citigroup recently released a report, significantly lowering the target price for LAOPU GOLD from 1,162 HKD to 700 HKD. The bank believes that since the softening of gold prices starting in February, LAOPU GOLD's gold prices have already been at a significant premium of 55% compared to traditional gold jewelry retailers. The weaker than expected performance of "618" may lead to the loss of price-sensitive customers, thus lowering the revenue forecast for the 2026 fiscal year by 6% to 37.7 billion yuan, while maintaining the net profit forecast at 8.26 billion yuan. JP Morgan released a research report stating that since the end of January, Laopu's stock price has dropped by 45%. The bank believes this is due to investors' concerns about the uncertainty of same-store sales trends amidst fluctuations in gold prices. Although gold price fluctuations in the second quarter may trigger a wait-and-see attitude, putting pressure on same-store sales trends, the bank believes that the market has underestimated Laopu's positive measures in responding to the gold price cycle.