A-shares pulled back from highs, Shanghai Composite down 0.04% at midday

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On March 17, the A-shares pulled back after a rally. By the close in the morning, the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.04% to 4,083.03 points, the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.4%, the ChiNext Index declined 0.58%, the CSI 50 fell 0.23%, and the STAR 50 decreased 0.45%.

In terms of liquidity, the People’s Bank of China announced that on March 17, it conducted a 51 billion yuan 7-day reverse repo operation at a fixed rate of 1.4%, with a bid volume of 51 billion yuan and an amount of 51 billion yuan awarded. Wind data shows that 39.5 billion yuan of reverse repos matured that day, resulting in a net injection of 11.5 billion yuan.

On the news front, the National Energy Administration released data showing that from January to February, the total electricity consumption across society reached 16,546 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 6.1%. Looking at electricity use by industry, the primary industry consumed 2,230 billion kWh, up 7.4% year-on-year.

As a key policy bank supporting the “three rural issues” (agriculture, rural areas, farmers), China Agricultural Development Bank has prepared 180 billion yuan this year to ensure spring plowing and preparation funds. Currently, the bank has issued over 120 billion yuan in spring plowing and preparation loans. Additionally, as the largest bond issuer in the “three rural” sector, the Agricultural Development Bank recently successfully issued its first 1-year support spring plowing and preparation themed financial bond of 8 billion yuan to domestic and foreign investors. The funds will be used for loans supporting crop planting, agricultural supplies, agricultural technology, and other spring farming fields.

In terms of sectors, stocks related to new listings, securities, insurance, and real estate performed well today, with new stocks like Kemai Materials and Gude Electric Materials surging, and companies like Tonghuashun, Zhinan Zheng, and East Money also showing active performance. Meanwhile, concepts such as cultivated diamonds, CPO, OCS, and optical communication led the declines.

The 2026 government work report repeatedly emphasizes insurance, covering key areas such as social security, rural revitalization, and risk prevention, with clear goals of “improving quality, expanding coverage, and risk mitigation” for high-quality development. Under the assumptions of stabilized interest rates and a slow bull market in equities, the profitability improvement of the insurance sector is highly certain, and undervalued insurance stocks are expected to see valuation recovery.

Here, by integrating the latest research reports from multiple brokerages, we present brief profiles of four companies for fans and friends—only for reference.

1. New China Life Insurance

The company continues to promote transformation of liabilities products and channels, with a relatively high proportion of equity assets on the asset side, creating better asset return flexibility.

— Guoxin Securities

2. Ping An of China

The company’s new policies have favorable spreads; under the influence of new policy issuance dilution and policies like “reporting and operating as one,” the liabilities of existing policies are beginning to decrease, improving profitability.

— Guojin Securities

3. China Pacific Insurance (CPIC)

The company’s assets and liabilities are stable. The life insurance industry is entering a new cycle of rising volume and prices on the liability side. CPIC, leveraging its brand, resources, channels, and services, is expected to have higher elasticity than the industry. The central rate of return on assets is moving upward, and under the long bull market expectation, it will continue to benefit.

— Guojin Securities

4. PICC Property and Casualty

The company’s centralized operational capabilities, vertical management, and centralized operations indicate further strengthening of headquarters control, ensuring that under the “reporting and operating as one” background, irrational behaviors of branches are effectively prevented, and policy dividends are effectively converted.

— Industrial Securities

Cover image source: AIGC

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