Brokerage Spring Strategy Conference Kicks Off! Under the intertwining of geopolitical reshuffling and the AI wave, these sectors are favored! The revaluation of Chinese assets is deepening.

The Year of the Horse Brokerage Spring Strategy Conference Kicks Off.

From March 4 to 5, Huatai Securities hosted the 2026 Spring Investment Summit, themed “Starting Strong, Charting New Paths, Planning for the Future,” exploring market trends amid multiple changes. Meanwhile, Open Source Securities’ Spring Listed Company Meet-and-Greet and Investment Strategy Conference were held in Shanghai from March 4 to 6.

As March arrives, international financial markets fluctuate wildly, yet Chinese assets demonstrate remarkable resilience. Overall, sell-side analysts unanimously see “price increases” and “AI technology” as the two core investment themes for the future. As Liang Hong, Chair of Huatai Securities Institutional Business Committee, mentioned, Chinese assets began revaluation in 2025, deepening in 2026, with ongoing optimism for resource investments in technology, power, chemicals, and rare metals amid geopolitical restructuring and AI waves.

China Assets Accelerate Rebirth and Breakthrough

“We are at an ‘accelerating point’ of rebirth beyond barriers. The ‘14th Five-Year Plan’ sets a strong start as the most important policy theme for 2026. Rising PPI, unified large markets, deepening anti-inflation policies, nearing 2030 carbon peak, combined with resource security priorities and new AI capital expenditure directions, are driving upstream industry price improvements and industry restructuring,” Liang Hong stated at the strategy conference.

Focusing on key macro variables, Huatai Securities Chief Macroeconomist Yi Huan analyzed the “more consumable global asset expenditure cycle.” She believes that four forces—AI capital spending becoming infrastructure-like, rising global defense spending, bottoming of China’s construction costs, and global manufacturing cycle recovery—are resonating to drive this new cycle. Rising PPI will serve as a leading indicator for further deepening of Chinese asset revaluation.

Based on this, Huatai has recently upgraded its forecasts for China’s PPI and RMB exchange rate. Yi Huan explained that the cyclical rise in the RMB reflects improved investment returns and reduced risk premiums, potentially allowing Chinese corporate profits measured in dollars to surpass those of major developed economies for the first time since 2021, thereby reshaping global asset allocation patterns.

Huatai Securities Research Institute Director and Fixed Income Chief Zhang Jiqiang further pointed out that a major market theme this year is seeking “price increase” opportunities. Geopolitical shifts and the AI revolution remain key perspectives for structural opportunities. Although global liquidity may weaken this year, RMB appreciation and China’s “safe haven” effect are expected to attract capital inflows, with domestic deposit reallocation providing additional support. Short-term uncertainties mainly involve Iran, as investors shift from risk-hedging trades to concerns about stagflation, with the duration of conflicts being critical.

Stocks and Commodities Still Outperform Bonds

Zhang Jiqiang predicts that stocks and commodities are likely to continue outperforming bonds, with upstream resource sectors outperforming downstream consumption, hardware outperforming software, and export-oriented industries maintaining competitiveness. This view is supported by Huatai Securities Strategy Chief and Financial Engineering Head He Kang, who said that quantitative models show that in an environment of loose liquidity and mild inflation, equities and commodities benefit, with short- and medium-term resonant upward cycles expected in the second half of the year, offering greater resilience.

He Kang believes that under the changing AI narrative and positive PPI expectations, the “new-old economic rebalancing” style may continue to be validated. From late March to April, as macro data and corporate earnings reports are released, the market may gradually shift toward fundamental-based pricing. High-growth sectors are expected to be concentrated in cyclicals, manufacturing, and TMT, showing a weak recovery with structural differentiation. Overseas expansion will be an important variable for improving corporate performance. If Q1 macro data exceeds expectations, large-cap value stocks sensitive to fundamental recovery may see a style rotation opportunity.

Huatai Securities Strategy Researcher Li Yujie emphasized that the driving logic for Hong Kong stocks in 2026 has shifted from valuation and liquidity to profitability. The main profit improvement themes include marginal stabilization of real estate, price-increasing opportunities driven by tight supply and demand, and key bottlenecks in technology. “Technology remains the clear main theme, but market disagreement lies in who will truly benefit from this round of technological change. For China’s AI industry, investors are advised not to focus solely on upstream chips or downstream applications but to adopt a bottom-up approach, allocating to high-quality companies across the entire industry chain with potential.”

When asked about recent market focus on the Hang Seng Tech Index, Li Yujie admitted that from a valuation perspective, there is limited room for further decline, and trading logic has shifted from AI to core business fundamentals. However, a rebound still requires two conditions: sufficiently low positions and catalysts.

New Market Rhythm and Strategies for a Bull Market

Looking ahead to 2026, Open Source Securities Chief Macro Analyst He Ning stated that the real economy is expected to accelerate in quality and efficiency. Under the “14th Five-Year Plan,” technological security remains the top priority. The proportion of new productive forces in nominal GDP continues to rise, approaching the scale of the narrow real estate sector, significantly increasing influence and driving TFP into a new upward cycle.

She noted that China’s new and old kinetic energy conversion aligns with the global electrification and digitalization process, greatly increasing reliance on nonferrous metals and power infrastructure. New productive forces are expected to take over the “pillar industry” status of real estate, forming a rapid development trend centered on energy (new energy + controlled nuclear fusion), and leading industries (AI + semiconductors, aerospace + low-altitude economy, embodied intelligence, biomedicine).

Meanwhile, Huatai Securities Strategy Chief Analyst Wei Jixing emphasized that 2026 will see A-shares transition into a “profit structure + capital structure” driven slow bull market. Reconstructing the “new rhythm bull market” from a DDM perspective involves: focusing on marginal profit growth’s guidance for valuation; and reshaping market structure through the capital ecosystem, weakening real estate’s investment role, and attracting stable incremental funds via indirect household capital inflows.

He is optimistic about AI technology, pro-cyclical price increases, thematic investments, and dividend strategies. Specifically, in AI, key beneficiaries may include computing power capital, power infrastructure, and ecological platforms; for pro-cyclicality, assets with stable “pricing power” such as nonferrous metals (energy and minor metals), certain chemicals, insurance (boosted by rising nominal interest rates), and building materials. 2026 is expected to be a big year for thematic investing, with opportunities aligned with the “14th Five-Year Plan.” Given the odds advantage and household capital inflows, dividend styles may outperform in 2026 compared to 2025.

(Source: Securities Times)