Market sentiment improved as geopolitical tensions showed signs of easing, with reports suggesting the U.S. and Iran are nearing a one-page memorandum of understanding for a ceasefire. This, combined with the ongoing enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, propelled Chinese A-shares and Hong Kong stocks to extend their gains. The storage chip and semiconductor sectors were particularly active, while the precious metals sector recorded significant increases, following a sharp overnight surge in international gold prices. In contrast, crude oil futures experienced a substantial decline.

On May 7, A-shares saw volatile gains, with the three major indices opening slightly higher. The precious metals and shipping sectors led the advances, and activity was noted along the photovoltaic industry chain. Stocks related to computing hardware, such as copper-clad laminates, also showed strength. Hong Kong stocks opened higher and continued to climb, with the Hang Seng Tech Index rising nearly 3%. Technology and internet stocks staged a collective rebound, with notable gains from Alibaba, Tencent, Kuaishou, and Baidu.

In the bond market, government bond futures experienced mixed and volatile movements. In commodities, domestic futures were mixed, with crude oil dropping nearly 6%.

**Core Market Movements:**

**A-shares:** At the time of writing, the Shanghai Composite Index was up [%], the Shenzhen Component Index was up [%], and the ChiNext Index was up [%].

**Hong Kong Stocks:** At the time of writing, the Hang Seng Index was up [%], and the Hang Seng Tech Index was up [%].

**Bond Market:** Government bond futures were mixed. At the time of writing, the 30-year main contract was up 0.05%, the 10-year main contract was flat, the 5-year main contract was flat, and the 2-year main contract was down 0.01%.

**Commodities:** Domestic commodity futures were mostly higher. At the time of writing, Shanghai tin led gains, up 5%. Shanghai silver, platinum, and polysilicon all rose over 3%. Industrial silicon, palladium, and caustic soda increased by 2%. Shanghai gold, alumina, lithium carbonate, rebar, Shanghai copper, eggs, glass, and hot-rolled coil also moved higher. Decliners included rapeseed, rubber, pulp, soybean meal, and coke. Shanghai aluminum, manganese silicon, coking coal, ethylene glycol, and stainless steel fell over 1%. The containerized freight index, fuel oil, asphalt, Shanghai nickel, and methanol dropped more than 3%, while crude oil plunged nearly 6%.

**09:51** The photovoltaic concept sector experienced a volatile upturn during the session, with space photovoltaic stocks leading the gains. Laplace and Mayer Holdings rose over 10%, following earlier limit-up gains by Ancai High-Tech and Junda Stock. Linkcon and North Glass also advanced more than 7%.

**09:34** The storage chip concept remained active. Netac Technology surged over 10%, continuing to hit a record high. Demingli rose nearly 8%, with Jiangbolong, Shannon芯创, Kaipuyun, and Shikong Technology also posting gains.

The positive movement was supported by reports that the latest standard for server DRAM modules, "MRDIMM," is in its final development stage. Members of the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC), including major memory companies like Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, and Micron, are actively developing MRDIMM products to meet future demand growth.

**09:27** Fiber optic concept stocks opened collectively higher. Tongding Interconnection opened at the daily limit-up. Tefa Information opened 8% higher, with Hangzhou Cable, Changfei Fiber, Hengtong Optic-Electric, and Changyingtong among the top gainers.

This followed an announcement by NVIDIA of a long-term partnership with Corning. Corning plans to build three new U.S. factories, aiming to increase U.S. optical connectivity production capacity tenfold and boost fiber output by over 50%.

**09:26** The Shanghai Composite Index opened 0.2% higher, while the ChiNext Index rose 0.79%. Themes such as photovoltaics, energy metals, CPO, AI computing power, servers, and memory were active.

**09:21** The Hang Seng Index opened 1.21% higher, and the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 2.41%. Technology and internet stocks rose broadly, with Kuaishou up over 5%, Baidu Group and Tencent Music up over 4%, and Alibaba, NetEase, and Bilibili up over 3%.

**09:16** The central parity rate of the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar was set at 6.8487, marking its highest level since March 24, 2023. This was the first time it strengthened beyond the 6.85 level in over three years, representing an increase of 75 basis points from the previous day's fixing of 6.8562. The previous day's official closing price was 6.8149, and the overnight session closed at 6.8133.