Finance Morning: A-Shares End August Higher as Property Stocks Rally on New Policy

📊 Today's Asia Markets

1. Property stocks lead gains on first trading day after new policy

Source: Phoenix Finance (Fengcaixun)

On Aug 31, the A-share real estate index opened 4.2% higher, leading gains. Shares of Tesfu Services, Financial Street, Xiangjiang Holdings, Shenzhen Property, CCCC Development, Tianbao Infrastructure and Yukaifa all rose more than 10% to hit the daily limit-up, with Tesfu Services gaining over 20%.

Concept sectors also strengthened, with the first-tier developer index up 4.79%, the urban-village renovation index up 4.2% and the real-estate-select index up 3.6%.

This was the first trading day after the Aug 28 real-estate policy overhaul, when the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the People's Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the CSRC jointly issued eight national policies covering development, financing and sales. The push for "sale of completed homes" took center stage: pre-sales can only begin after the main structure is topped out, and funds can only be released after delivery conditions are met, adding an average 10–20 months to developers' capital lock-up.

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2. Over 800 companies distribute more than 700 billion yuan in interim dividends

Source: Xinhua Finance

With A-share first-half 2026 reports fully disclosed, Xinhua Finance data showed that as of 3:00 p.m. on Aug 31, a total of 864 companies had announced interim dividend plans, of which 854 included cash dividends, totaling about 713.681 billion yuan.

The amount kept climbing from 633.860 billion yuan in 2025 and 503.579 billion yuan in 2024, with interim dividends rising by a 100-billion-yuan notch each year.

China Mobile, ICBC, CCB, PetroChina, Agricultural Bank of China, CNOOC, Bank of China, China Shenhua, Ping An and PSBC topped the interim payout list, each exceeding 10 billion yuan. China Mobile plans to pay 25.1 yuan per 10 shares (tax included), or about 54.426 billion yuan pre-tax, ranking first. The SSE Dividend Index closed at 3404.04 points that day, a new 2026 closing high.

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3. Shanghai Composite up 0.86%, AI applications keep rising in the afternoon

Source: Sina Finance

On Aug 31, all four major A-share indices closed higher: the Shanghai Composite rose 0.86%, the Shenzhen Component 0.44%, the ChiNext 0.42% and the STAR Composite 1.9%.

AI application stocks kept rising in the afternoon, with Inspur, Unisplendour and Cambricon driving the server sector; coal and banking shares climbed steadily, with Bank of China and CITIC Bank both hitting record highs. Media and entertainment shares surged, with ChineseAll and Mango Excellent Media among many stocks limit-up.

Leading property developers came under pressure, with China Merchants Shekou and Binjiang Group leading declines. Combined turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges reached 2.15 trillion yuan, up 27.6 billion yuan from the prior session, with more than 3,100 stocks rising.

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4. Big-bank H-shares hit record highs

Source: Sina Finance

Hong Kong-listed mainland bank shares rallied on Aug 31. PSBC's H-share rose over 6%; Bank of China's H-share gained over 5%, touching an intraday high of HK$5.895 — a record since listing; CCB and Bank of Communications H-shares both rose over 3% to new highs; ICBC and ABC H-shares each added over 1%.

The gains followed the big state banks' interim results. In the first half, all six major state banks reported positive revenue and net profit growth, with ABC and CCB posting double-digit revenue growth.

Specifically, ICBC reported first-half net profit of 173.682 billion yuan (up 3.32% year on year), CCB 169.564 billion (up 4.62%), ABC 146.381 billion (up 4.93%), Bank of China 123.594 billion (up 5.10%), PSBC 51.503 billion (up 4.62%) and Bank of Communications 47.874 billion (up 4.04%). Net interest margins broadly stabilized.

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5. Nikkei closes down 0.14% on Fed rate-hike caution

Source: Kyodo News

Tokyo stocks began a new week on Aug 31 with the Nikkei ending 93.63 points lower at 66,311.93, down 0.14%, pressured by caution over U.S. rate hikes. The index at one point fell more than 1,500 points and breached the 65,000 mark.

The Topix rose 9.58 points to 4,156.29, up 0.23%, on turnover of 2.67487 billion shares.

Last Friday, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh hinted at rate hikes in a speech, stoking rate-hike expectations and pushing long-term yields higher; semiconductor-linked names such as Advantest also fell after U.S. chip stocks slid. Oversold shares rebounded late in the session, narrowing the Nikkei's decline.

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6. Korean stocks turn positive in the afternoon as chip giants rebound

Source: Phoenix Finance

South Korean stocks swung higher in the afternoon of Aug 31 after opening lower. The KOSPI turned positive intraday after falling as much as 3.6% earlier, while SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both flipped to gains.

On the news front, Xinhua reported from Seoul on Aug 30 that the presidential office announced President Lee Jae-myung had nominated six positions, including the deputy prime minister for the economy and the defense minister. Lee Hyung-il, the current first vice minister of economy and finance, was tapped as deputy prime minister and finance minister, while former deputy commander of the ROK-US Combined Forces Command Kang Shin-chul was nominated as defense minister.

Separately, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Aug 31 that a very large crude carrier trying to "illegally pass" the southern Strait of Hormuz caught fire and stopped after hitting a mine.

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7. Taiwan's stock exchange chief wants investors to look past TSMC

Source: Fortune

TSMC, the world's largest chipmaker, posted a 40% jump in quarterly revenue to $40.2 billion and a 77% jump in profit to $22.3 billion. Yet investors deemed those numbers insufficient, and the next day TSMC shares dropped 7.3%, dragging Taiwan's TAIEX to its biggest single-day point decline on record.

Taiwan overtook India in May to become the world's fifth-largest stock market, behind the U.S., mainland China, Japan and Hong Kong, with about two-fifths of that value coming from TSMC.

Sherman Lin, chair of the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation, is pushing investors to look at the island's other "hidden champions." "The best way to understand Taiwan is as a technology island," he said. "Technology really is in our DNA." Taiwan's government forecasts 11% growth for 2026, the fastest since 1987.

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8. UAE and Egypt central banks issue joint statement on Banque Misr

Source: Sina Finance

The UAE Central Bank and the Central Bank of Egypt reaffirmed full and continuous cooperation over the normal operations of all branches of Banque Misr in the UAE, according to a WAM report on Aug 30.

The statement came after the U.S. Treasury proposed restrictions on Banque Misr over its dealings with Iran and planned to revoke its UAE branches' access to the U.S. financial system.

In a joint statement, the two central banks said Banque Misr's UAE branches would take all necessary actions and measures within the stipulated period.

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9. Warsh's Jackson Hole warning weighs on stocks

Source: VT Markets

U.S. stocks sold off last Friday after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at Jackson Hole but still closed the week higher. He reaffirmed the Fed's commitment to its 2% inflation target and warned that persistently high inflation could still lead to rate hikes.

The remarks contrasted with recent U.S. Treasury moves aimed at preventing yields from climbing further. The Nasdaq outperformed after Nvidia's earnings underpinned the AI trade.

European indices were mixed, with only Zurich's SMI closing lower; the UK FTSE, Amsterdam AEX and German DAX closed near weekly highs. In Asia-Pacific, the Shanghai Composite, Nikkei and Australian Composite all rose.

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10. Oil surges, gold falls

Source: Sina Finance

U.S. forces struck two rocket launchers on Iran's Larak Island near the Strait of Hormuz on Aug 30, according to multiple U.S. media reports, and Iran said in the early hours of Aug 31 that it had fired missiles at U.S. bases. The renewed military exchange stoked Middle East supply concerns, sending oil prices sharply higher in Asian trading on Aug 31.

As of 10:05 a.m. Beijing time on Aug 31, WTI crude for October delivery traded at $85.54 a barrel, up 2.57%, while November Brent traded at $90.58 a barrel, up 2.81%.

Rising oil prices fanned inflation worries and, combined with growing expectations of a September Fed rate hike, pressured gold. London spot gold briefly fell below $4,400 an ounce, touching an intraday low of $4,396.07, before trading at $4,425.53 an ounce as of 11:06 a.m. Beijing time, down 0.62%.

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