The three major A-share indices of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets showed slight weakness in the first half of the day, with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.2%. The banking and insurance sectors, as well as domestic property stocks, were soft, while the concepts of electric grid and robotics saw a surge

The People's Bank of China has decided to lower the re-lending and rediscount rates by 0.25 percentage points starting next Monday (19th). After the adjustment, the re-lending rates for supporting agriculture and small enterprises for three months, six months, and one year will be 0.95%, 1.15%, and 1.25%, respectively, while the rediscount rate will be 1.5%, the mortgage supplementary loan rate will be 1.75%, and the rate for special structural monetary policy tools will be 1.25%. At the same time, the rates for various structural monetary policy tools will also be lowered by 0.25 percentage points. PBOC Vice Governor Zou Lan emphasized that there is still room for further reserve requirement ratio and interest rate cuts this year.

The central parity rate of the RMB against the US dollar was lowered by 14 points today, reported at 7.0078 against one US dollar. The People's Bank of China today (16th) conducted a seven-day reverse repurchase operation in the open market amounting to 10 billion RMB (same below), with the operation rate remaining at 1.4%. Today, 34 billion RMB of reverse repos are maturing, resulting in a net injection of 52.7 billion RMB for the day.

The three major A-share indices opened higher but fluctuated downward, with domestic bank and insurance stocks dragging down the Shanghai Composite Index. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 4,103 points at midday, down 9 points or 0.2%, with a turnover of 865.35 billion RMB; the Shenzhen Component Index closed at 14,293 points, down 13 points or 0.1%, with a turnover of 1.12 trillion RMB; the ChiNext Index closed at 3,367 points, down less than 1 point, with a turnover of 557.7 billion RMB.

Domestic bank stocks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH) and China Construction Bank (601939.SH) fell by 0.7% and 0.2%, respectively. Domestic insurance stocks Ping An Insurance (601318.SH), China Life (601628.SH), and China Pacific Insurance (601601.SH) fell between 1.4% and 2.4%.

The State Grid's "14th Five-Year" investment plan was recently released, expecting fixed asset investment to reach 4 trillion RMB, a 40% increase compared to the "13th Five-Year" period, to expand effective investment and drive the high-quality development of the new power system industry chain. Power grid stocks or related power equipment stocks generally rose, with China Power Construction (601669.SH) up 8%, China Energy Engineering (601868.SH), State Grid Yingda (600517.SH), Baobian Electric (600550.SH), and Dongfang Electric (600875.SH) rising between 3% and 4.6%.

The People's Bank of China, in conjunction with the Financial Regulatory Administration, will lower the minimum down payment ratio for commercial property purchase loans to 30%, supporting the destocking of the commercial real estate market. However, leading domestic property stocks showed weak performance, with China Vanke (000002.SZ), China Overseas Land & Investment (600048.SH), and Gemdale Corporation (600383.SH) falling between 1.8% and 2.3%.

Brain engineering concept stocks fell, with Meihao Medical (301363.SZ), Sanbo Brain Science (301293.SZ), and Innovation Medical (002173.SZ) dropping between 4.4% and 6.6%.

Robot concept stocks surged, with Wuzhou Xinchun (603667.SH) hitting the daily limit. Green Harmonics (688017.SH) and Buke Co., Ltd. (688160.SH) rose by 12.2% and 10%, respectively Chip stocks rose steadily, with SMIC A (688981.SH) and Hua Hong (688347.SH) increasing by 1.2% and 1.7%, respectively. AI chip stock Cambricon (688256.SH) rose by 0.3%.

In addition, CATL (300750.SZ) fell by 0.2%. BYD (002594.SZ) rose by 0.4%