Xiansheng Pharmaceutical (02096) announced that on May 3, 2024, the company spent HK$781,600 to repurchase 138,000 shares at a repurchase price of HK$5.64-5.67 per share.

Pacific Network (00543) announced that the company will pay a 2023 final dividend of RMB 0.04 per share on June 3, 2024.

Shiyao Group (01093) announced that it cancelled 26.628 million repurchased shares on May 3, 2024.

Yum China (09987) announced that on May 2, 2024, the company spent 2.4 million US dollars to repurchase 64,600 shares at a repurchase price of 36.44-37.80 US dollars per share. On May 2, 2024, the company spent HK$4.695,200 to repurchase 16,400 shares at a repurchase price of HK$279.6-288.8 per share.

Daiwa released a research report stating that China Resources Electric Power (00836) was downgraded from “outperforming the market” to “holding”, and the target price was slightly reduced from HK$20.4 to HK$20. Investors were advised to leave the market profitably. The priority updates for China's independent power producer industry were hydropower, coal-fired power plants, nuclear energy, and renewable energy, respectively. Coal prices fell in the first quarter of this year, and profits of independent coal-fired power producers (IPP) rose sharply. The downward trend in coal prices in this sector is already reflected in stock prices. Recently, coal prices have rebounded, and Rundian may face a high base for profit in the third quarter.

On May 2, 2024 (2nd day of Labor Day holiday), the number of people moving across regions across the whole society was 282.703 million, down 10.5% from the previous month, up 8.4% from the same period in 2023 (2nd day of Labor Day holiday), and 32.2% over the same period in 2019. Among them, railway passenger traffic was 17.592 million, down 15% from the same period in 2023, up 33.4% from the same period in 2019; the number of people moving across regions on highways was 261.82 million, down 10.3% from the same period in 2023, up 9.1% from the same period in 2023, and 32.9% over the same period in 2019. Waterway passenger traffic was 1,433,600, up 63% month-on-month, up 21.9% from the same period in 2023, down 29.7% from the same period in 2019; civil aviation passenger traffic was 1.884,700, down 13.2% month-on-month, up 1.4% from the same period in 2023, and up 12.3% from the same period in 2019. (CCTV News)

The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed up 1.48%, while the Hang Seng Technology Index closed up 2.74%. Among the top stocks in terms of turnover, Tencent Holdings rose 1.11%, Alibaba-SW increased 4.07%, Meituan-W rose 0.5%, AIA Insurance rose 3.37%, and Ping An of China rose 4.08%. At one point, Kuaigou Taxi rose more than 125%, closing up 91.55%, and KEEP closing up 19.5%.

Schroder Investment published an article stating that one way for investors to enter the insurance market is to invest in insurance-linked securities (insurance-linked securities or ILS). Insurance-linked securities are a way for insurance companies to manage risk and generate potential profits. This type of securities can transfer part of the insured risk to investors in the capital market. The irrelatedness of insurance-linked securities helps reduce portfolio risk. Since insurance-linked securities are linked to specific insurance risks, they may show greater resistance to falling and serve as a hedging tool to mitigate the impact of the overall financial market downturn on investment portfolios. Many insurance-linked securities offer attractive returns to cover investors taking on insurance risks, and such higher coupon interest can provide a potential source of income that is not affected by interest rate fluctuations or stock dividend payments.

In the US stock market, among the “Seven Sisters” of US stocks, Apple rose more than 5%. The company's second-fiscal quarter revenue was better than expected, and it announced the largest share repurchase of 110 billion US dollars in history. Nvidia rose nearly 1%, while Tesla rose slightly. Some Chinese securities fell, with Xiaopeng Motors falling more than 2%, and Ideal Auto and NIO falling nearly 2%. The three major US stock index futures all rose. Dow futures rose 0.6%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%.

According to Sophia Drossos of hedge fund Point72, Japan's intervention to support the yen has achieved a key goal: to prevent the market from shorting the yen by a large margin. The economist and strategist at the asset management company said that this makes investors wary of betting that the yen will continue to weaken, and if officials suddenly buy the yen again, they may fall into danger.