The three major A-share indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose by 0.6%-2.1% in the first half of the day, with computing power stocks continuing to surge, while oil-related stocks were relatively weak

The offshore RMB against the US dollar rose to 6.8134, reaching a new high since March 2023. The RMB/USD central parity rate was reported at 6.8593, up 64 points from the previous day.

In March, new social financing in the mainland reached 5.23 trillion RMB, with new RMB loans amounting to 2.99 trillion RMB. M2 grew by 8.5% year-on-year, all below market expectations. The People's Bank of China today (14th) conducted a 10 billion RMB (same below) seven-day reverse repurchase operation in the open market, with the operation rate remaining at 1.4%. Today, 5 billion RMB of reverse repos matured, resulting in a net injection of 5 billion RMB for the day.

The General Administration of Customs of China announced that in US dollar terms, China's imports and exports in March grew by 12.7% year-on-year. Exports increased by 2.5%, falling short of the market expectation of 8.6%; imports rose by 27.8% year-on-year, exceeding the market expectation of 13.9%. The trade surplus of 51.13 billion USD was below expectations.

The three major A-share indices opened high and continued to rise. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 4,010 points at midday, up 21 points or 0.6%, with a turnover of 628 billion RMB; the Shenzhen Component Index closed at 14,603 points, up 195 points or 1.4%, with a turnover of 871.7 billion RMB; the ChiNext Index closed at 3,550 points, up 73 points or 2.1%, with a turnover of 409.4 billion RMB.

In the banking sector, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SH) rose by 0.1%, while China Construction Bank (601939.SH) fell by 0.3%. Additionally, Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (300750.SZ) fell by 0.6%. It is rumored that Contemporary Amperex is considering a placement of shares in Hong Kong, aiming to raise no more than 5 billion USD. BYD (002594.SZ) fell by 0.9%.

International oil prices fluctuated and fell back, with China National Offshore Oil Corporation (600938.SH), PetroChina (601857.SH), and Sinopec (600028.SH) down by 0.9%-1.3%. Among oil and gas stocks, Man Oil (603619.SH) and Shandong Molong Petroleum Machinery (002490.SZ) fell by 1.8% and 4.7%, respectively.

Chip stocks rose, with SMIC (688981.SH) A shares up by 1.2%. Hua Hong (688347.SH) A shares rose by 4.2%. AI chip stock Cambricon (688256.SH) rose by 0.6%. Domestic GPU stocks MuXi Co., Ltd. (688802.SH) and Moore Threads (688795.SH) rose by 1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Computing-related stocks continued to surge, with Litong Electronics (603629.SH), Huashengchang (002980.SZ), and Dawei Co., Ltd. (002213.SZ) all hitting the daily limit.

Software stock Kingsoft Office (688111.SH) opened significantly higher but narrowed its gains, rising by 5.5% at midday, expected to see a year-on-year net profit increase of 401.89% to 472.81 million RMB in the first quarter