China’s CSI 300 fell into technical bear-market territory Thursday, closing 20.2% below its June peak as investors weighed faster economic growth against weak September retail sales.
China Securities Index Co. says the benchmark covers 300 shares listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen. It ended at 4,036.30 points, down 1.84% on Oct. 22, after closing at 5,059.66 on June 22. CNBC reported, citing LSEG data, that the index had recorded weekly declines for 10 consecutive weeks.
China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said gross domestic product grew 4.5% year over year in the July-September quarter, up from 4.3% in April-June. Growth across the first three quarters was 4.6%. The NBS also reported September retail sales of 4,243.3 billion yuan, a 1.1% increase from a year earlier.
CNBC said analysts it contacted cited consumer confidence, excess capacity, competition and artificial intelligence valuations as concerns for Chinese equities. Jordan Cvetanovski, chairman and CIO at Pella Funds, told CNBC that Chinese businesses still faced problems from earlier overbuilding. Shaun Rein, managing director at China Market Research Group, told CNBC, “It’s a crisis of confidence right now not a crisis in the economy.”
Reuters reported that Maybank analysts saw stronger headline growth as reducing the urgency for additional fiscal and monetary stimulus.
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) reported unaudited third-quarter revenue of 165.22 billion yuan, up 58.58% year over year. Net profit attributable to shareholders rose 14.54% to 21.25 billion yuan.
In earlier coverage of CATL shares and declines in China and Hong Kong stocks, EconoTimes reported that the company’s operating costs rose 61.61% in the first nine months of 2026, compared with a 56.19% increase in revenue. CATL attributed the revenue gain to expansion in business scale; its filing did not explain the difference between third-quarter revenue and profit growth.
