Banking Sector Active on July 28; CCB Hits Record High of RMB10.68, Sector Up 10.2% in Month
On July 28, China's banking sector rallied, with China Construction Bank (CCB) reaching an all-time high of RMB10.68 during the session, surpassing its previous record. The sector gained 10.2% in July. CCB's year-to-date rise of 17.22% exceeded its 2024 full-year performance, though its financing balance dropped 45.2% from its March peak to RMB797 million, a near one-year low. The broader market showed divergence, with coal, banking, oil, and food sectors leading monthly gains.
On July 28, the banking sector showed active trading, with Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Bank of Shanghai, and Bank of Chongqing among the top gainers. CCB's share price briefly climbed to RMB10.68 during the session, surpassing the previous high set on June 12 and setting a new record, while also crossing the RMB10 mark.
After hitting a historical high of RMB10.52 on June 12, CCB's share price retreated, accumulating a decline of nearly 11.5% over the following month. Since the start of July, the stock regained upward momentum, rising approximately 14.6% over the past 17 trading days, and again reached a new record high on July 28. On a year-to-date basis, the stock has gained 17.22%, exceeding its full-year performance in 2024, though still below its annual returns in 2023 and 2024.
On the funding side, CCB's margin financing balance has been declining recently. As of July 27, its margin balance fell to RMB797 million, a near one-year low since July 23, 2025, and a drop of nearly 45.2% from its year-to-date peak of RMB1.455 billion on March 6. On July 13, the stock saw a net sell-off of RMB88 million by margin traders in a single day, the largest daily net selling amount this year.
Currently, CCB's margin balance is close to RMB800 million, ranking 24th among banking stocks, in the middle of the sector. Across the banking sector, 17 stocks have margin balances exceeding RMB1 billion, accounting for nearly 42.5% of all margin-traded banking stocks. China Merchants Bank leads with RMB10.804 billion, the only bank stock with a margin balance above RMB10 billion, followed by Industrial Bank, China Minsheng Bank, Ping An Bank, and Bank of Jiangsu.
Since the beginning of this month, individual stocks have shown divergence. Excluding new listings, as of the close on July 28, the average stock declined nearly 8.5%, with a median decline of nearly 5.1%. By Shenwan primary industry sectors, coal, banking, oil and petrochemicals, and food and beverage sectors led monthly gains, rising 12.1%, 10.2%, 9.8%, and 7.7% respectively, while electronics, communications, building materials, machinery, and electrical equipment sectors underperformed.
At the secondary sector level, precious metals, insurance, coal mining, joint-stock banks, large state-owned banks, passenger cars, white goods, and traditional Chinese medicine sectors led monthly gains, with sector index increases all above 10%. Ten secondary sectors, including glass fiber, non-metallic materials, electronic chemicals, other electronics, components, optical optoelectronics, communication equipment, small metals, semiconductors, and automation equipment, saw index declines exceeding 30% this month.
On the funding front, as of July 27 data, among the 31 Shenwan primary sectors, only the beauty and personal care sector saw a slight increase in margin buying, while the remaining 30 sectors experienced declines in margin balances, with electronics, electrical equipment, and communications seeing the largest reductions. By Shenwan secondary sectors, only oil and gas extraction, oilfield services, cosmetics, hotels and restaurants, medical aesthetics, decoration and renovation, and fisheries saw net margin buying this month.