Insurance stocks in Hong Kong experienced a collective uptick. At the time of writing, NCI (01336) rose by 5.84% to HK$48.56, CHINA LIFE (02628) increased by 4.48% to HK$26.12, CPIC (02601) climbed 3.68% to HK$34.38, and PING AN (02318) advanced 3.49% to HK$62.30. This movement follows the release of premium data for the first two months of 2026 by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, which indicated robust performance in life insurance new year sales, while growth in auto insurance premiums faced short-term pressure.

For life insurance companies, the original premium income from January to February saw a year-on-year increase of 9.7%. Specifically, January's premiums rose by 13% year-on-year, while February's growth moderated to 1.2%, primarily due to disruptions from the Spring Festival holiday. Conversely, property and casualty insurers reported year-on-year premium changes of +5.8% in January and -0.3% in February, with auto insurance premiums declining for two consecutive months.

Analysis from Huachuang Securities noted that recent market adjustments, influenced by geopolitical factors, have affected the investment side, leading to a pullback in the insurance sector. Currently, the valuation of most insurance companies is below the 50th percentile of the past decade, indicating that bottom value has emerged. In the short term, first-quarter 2026 results are expected to be pressured by capital market volatility. However, from a medium- to long-term perspective, coordinated efforts from regulators and the industry are gradually optimizing liability costs. The risk of significant "interest spread losses" for leading firms is largely mitigated, and price-to-embedded value (PEV) ratios are anticipated to recover towards 1x.