Domestic insurance stocks demonstrated robust performance. At the time of writing, PING AN (02318) rose 2.85% to HK$70.45; PICC P&C (02328) gained 2.52% to HK$16.66; CHINA LIFE (02628) increased 2.32% to HK$32.62; and NCI (01336) advanced 2.14% to HK$62.15.

Huaxi Securities released a research report stating that the better-than-expected 2026 kick-off sales data is the direct catalyst for this round of gains in insurance stocks. According to disclosures from Jinri Bao, some leading insurers saw their cumulative new premium scale for just the first three days of January 2026 increase by over 70% year-on-year. Coupled with a low base from the same period last year, leading insurers' kick-off sales this year are showing relatively strong momentum.

The bank believes that insurance products,凭借 their relative yield advantage, are poised to attract a portion of funds being reallocated from savings. Furthermore, concerns over losses from spread compression have significantly eased, and the factors suppressing sector valuation are gradually being eliminated.

Guojin Securities pointed out that the shift of bancassurance业务 is expected to bring high growth in bancassurance, which will become the main driver for new premium and NBV growth in 2026. Post-pandemic, household precautionary savings have increased; since 2020, new household deposits have consistently exceeded 10 trillion yuan, with figures for 2021, 2023, and 2024 being 9.9 trillion, 16.67 trillion, and 14.26 trillion yuan, respectively. A substantial portion of these deposits, which were initially locked in at high interest rates, are expected to mature in 2026. Against the backdrop of declining deposit rates and a shortage of medium-to-long-term deposit supply, maturing 2-year, 3-year, and 5-year deposits are anticipated to be reallocated towards insurance products.