China's Indexes Turned Lower, Zijin Mining In Focus

Li Chen
24 Aug, 2026
Hong Kong

Stocks in China turned sharply lower at the start of a new week on Monday amid rising geopolitical tensions and ahead of key quarterly earnings updates. 

The Hang Seng Index dropped 2.1%, and the mainland-focused CSI 300 Index decreased 1.3% as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the release of earnings from BYD, CNOOC, and PetroChina. 

Investor sentiment stayed cautious after a week of volatile trading amid a broad selloff in computer chipmakers. 

Hong Kong and mainland China indexes ended the week on a mixed note amid a global sell-off in chip stocks despite strong domestic earnings, and trading remained cautious ahead of upcoming policy meetings.  

Over the week, the Hang Seng Index advanced 2.3%, and the CSI 300 Index edged down 1.2%. 

Investors awaited additional signals from policymakers at the end of the annual National People's Congress Standing Committee scheduled between August 25 and 28. 

 

China Indexes and Stocks 

The Hang Seng Index dropped 2.1% to 25,463.04, and the mainland-focused CSI 300 Index decreased 1.3% to 4,558.91. 

Zijin Mining Group decreased 0.1% to HK $38.54 after the company released its first-half results. 

The lithium and copper miner reported weaker-than-expected second quarter revenue of 95.6 billion yuan and adjusted earnings per share of breakeven largely because of production delays at the Kamoa copper mine.  

Production of gold increased 13% to 47 tons; copper edged up 5%, excluding the impact of the Kamoa operation; and mined lithium production increased to 44,000 tons of equivalent lithium carbonate in the first half. 

The gold price per ounce in London jumped 53% to $4,693 from $3,067.  

The company raised its shareholder return estimate to 35% from the previous estimate of 30% over the three years leading to 2028.  

Revenue in the first half increased 15.8% to 194.2 billion yuan from 167.7 billion yuan, net income soared 68.2% to 39.2 billion yuan from 23.3 billion yuan, and basic earnings per share advanced to 1.473 yuan from 0.877 yuan. 

The company declared an interim dividend of 0.42 yuan per share, totaling 11.1 billion yuan.