HK Stock Market Move | Chinese insurance stocks continue to weaken. Equity market volatility combined with a high base and other factors may weigh on insurers' third-quarter performance growth.

Chinese insurance stocks extended their recent decline today. As of press time, New China Life Insurance (01336) fell 3.59% to HK$38.08; PICC GROUP (01339) dropped 2.66% to HK$4.76; China Life Insurance (02628) declined 2.08% to HK$22.62; China Pacific Insurance (02601) fell 1.85% to HK$25.42. On the news front, A-share and H-share performance in the third quarter of this year significantly lagged the same period last year, and combined with the continued increase in insurers' equity allocation, this is expected to have a major impact on profits. A Shenwan Hongyuan Group research report noted that under the influence of a high base, the new version of the "report-and-execute integration" rules, and equity market volatility, pressure on third-quarter performance growth has become a consensus. Huachuang Securities believes that on the liability side, under the impact of the high base in the third quarter and the new rules of Banking and Insurance Document No. 65, new premiums are expected to shrink significantly, dragging on NBV growth; for property insurance, catastrophe claims are expected to rise year on year under a strong El Nio phenomenon, and the "report-and-execute integration" is expected to bring expense optimization but will not fully offset the negative impact on the claims side.