A-share Midday Review | Shanghai Composite Index falls 0.18%, ChiNext Index drops 1.65%, pharmaceutical commerce sector bucks the trend

On October 26, the three major A-share indices opened lower collectively and fluctuated downward in the morning session, with the ChiNext Index falling more than 3% at one point during the session before its decline gradually narrowed, producing a divergent market pattern of "broad index declines, growth pullback, and consumer and pharmaceutical commerce sectors bucking the trend." As of the midday close, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.18% to 3,683.92 points, the Shenzhen Component Index fell 1.05% to 11,551.72 points, the ChiNext Index fell 1.65% to 2,639.85 points, and the STAR 50 fell 1.90%. More than 2,900 A-share stocks in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets declined. Half-day turnover in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets totaled RMB1.00161 trillion, down RMB61.9 billion from the previous trading day. On the capital flow front, Cailian Press market-monitoring data showed that in the morning session, main funds recorded net inflows into transportation equipment, banking, and petroleum and petrochemical sectors, and net outflows from electronics, communications, and semiconductors, among which the electronics sector saw net outflows exceeding RMB9.8 billion. Market Overview On the board, on the gainers' side, the real estate services sector rose 3.29%, the leisure food sector rose 2.85%, the pharmaceutical commerce sector rose 2.67%, and the oilfield services engineering sector rose 2.66%; the real estate development sector rose 1.91%, the gaming sector rose 1.89%, and the general retail sector rose 1.26%, with consumer, pharmaceutical commerce, real estate, and oil and gas directions relatively active. On the decliners' side, the components sector fell 6.13%, the glass and fiberglass sector fell 4.57%, the communications equipment sector fell 3.90%, the precious metals sector fell 3.80%, the electronic chemicals sector fell 3.24%, and the semiconductor sector fell 2.69%, with the computing power hardware industry chain weakening across the board. Overall, the narrowing of index declines was mainly supported by consumer, pharmaceutical commerce, and real estate directions, while the computing power hardware and precious metals directions, which had accumulated relatively deep declines earlier, moved lower again; decliners outnumbered advancers, and the market showed a clear high-low switching pattern. Hot Sectors 1. Pharmaceutical commerce sector strengthens The pharmaceutical commerce sector rose 2.67%, with Thalys Medical Technology Group Corporation. and Zhejiang Int'l Group hitting the daily limit, Qingdao Baheal Medical INC. up 12.17%, Sichuan Hezong Medicine Easy-To-Buy Pharmaceutical up 4.13%, and HPGC Renmintongtai Pharmaceutical Corporation up 4.71%. Comment: On the news front, divergence within the sector was evident. Zhejiang Int'l Group disclosed its third-quarter report on October 25, with single-third-quarter net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB105 million, up 41.59% year on year, driving valuation repair in the pharmaceutical distribution direction; an announcement disclosed by Dian Diagnostics Group on October 19 showed net profit attributable to shareholders of RMB482 million for the first three quarters, up 750.28% year on year. Thalys Medical Technology Group Corporation. and Qingdao Baheal Medical INC. were driven more by the brain-computer interface theme a high-quality brain-computer interface dataset construction project led by Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, was launched in Wuhan on October 24. At the policy level, the National Health Commission, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration jointly issued the "National Essential Medicines List (2026 Edition)" (Guo Wei Yao Zheng Fa [2026] No. 17) on June 23, effective from September 1, adding 116 drug varieties and including 16 innovative drugs in batches for the first time; the same three departments issued the "Notice on Doing a Good Job in the Prioritized Provision and Use of Essential Medicines" (Guo Wei Yao Zheng Fa [2026] No. 20) on August 20, requiring public medical and health institutions at all levels to complete updates and adjustments to their medication supply catalogs within two months after the implementation of the list, that is, before November 1, expanding the category space for pharmaceutical distribution and retail pharmacies accordingly. 2. Food processing sector active The food processing sector rose 0.61%, among which the leisure food sub-sector rose 2.85%, with Bestore Co.,Ltd., Tianjin Guifaxiang 18th Street Mahua Food, and Qingdao Foods hitting the daily limit. Comment: On the news front, an official of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce introduced China's consumer market situation for the first three quarters of 2026, saying that in the first three quarters the Ministry of Commerce deeply implemented the special action to boost consumption and rolled out a series of policies and measures to promote consumption; data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that total retail sales of consumer goods in the first three quarters reached RMB37.00 trillion, up 1.1% year on year, with September up 1.1% year on year, 0.7 percentage points faster than August. 3. Real estate sector pulls up during session The real estate sector rose 2.00%, among which real estate development rose 1.91% and real estate services rose 3.29%; China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings hit the daily limit, Greattown posted a second consecutive limit-up, 5i5j Holding Group rose 7.02%, and Poly Developments and Holdings Group rose 5.24%. Comment: On the news front, the National Bureau of Statistics recently released the basic situation of the national real estate market for January-September. According to online signing data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, online-signed transactions of second-hand homes in the first three quarters rose 10.7% year on year in floor area, with second-hand homes accounting for more than 50% of commercial housing transactions; on the inventory side, at the end of September the floor area of unsold new commercial housing nationwide fell 1.5% year on year, declining year on year for seven consecutive months, among which the area unsold for less than three years fell 5%. 4. Siasun Robot&Automation concept stocks locally active The Siasun Robot&Automation concept index was still down 0.29% at midday, with Jiangsu Safety Wire Rope, ADD Industry, DuoLun Technology Corporation, and Xiangyang Automobile Bearing all posting a third consecutive limit-up within the sector, Unitree Robotics up 8.01%, and Jiangsu Huayang Intelligent Equipment touching the 20% limit-up during the session and up 10.11% at midday. Comment: On the news front, according to CCTV Finance, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that in the first half of 2026 China's humanoid Siasun Robot&Automation output exceeded 40,000 units and is expected to surpass 100,000 units for the full year; customs data showed that from January to September this year China exported 16,559 "intelligent bionic Siasun Robot&Automation" units, with total export value of RMB1.417 billion, and September export volume rose about 176% from January.