Zheng Quan Ri Bao·2025-07-23 17:06Core Viewpoint - The banking sector has seen significant inflows from institutional funds, particularly public funds, in 2023, indicating a positive market sentiment towards bank stocks driven by various factors including policy effects and a focus on underweighted sectors [1][3]. Group 1: Fund Inflows and Holdings - As of the end of Q2 2023, public funds' total market value of holdings in bank stocks reached 205.37 billion yuan, a 27% increase from 161.61 billion yuan in Q1 2023 [2]. - China Merchants Bank remains the top holding among public funds, with 966 funds holding shares worth 75.82 billion yuan; other significant holdings include Industrial Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, and Jiangsu Bank, each exceeding 10 billion yuan in total market value [2]. - Public funds have notably increased their holdings in several national joint-stock banks, with Minsheng Bank seeing the largest increase of 582 million shares, followed by Industrial Bank and CITIC Bank with increases of 332 million shares and 260 million shares, respectively [2]. Group 2: Market Conditions and Strategies - The increase in public fund holdings in bank stocks is attributed to two main factors: the gradual realization of policy effects leading to asset price stabilization and a renewed focus on underweighted sectors following the release of the "Action Plan for Promoting High-Quality Development of Public Funds" in May [3]. - Active equity funds and passive index funds have both increased their holdings in bank stocks, with active equity funds holding 4.87% of bank stocks by the end of Q2 2023, the highest level since Q2 2021, reflecting a significant increase of 1.12 percentage points from Q1 2023 [3]. Group 3: Performance and Outlook - The banking sector index has risen over 18% year-to-date as of July 23, 2023, with some individual stocks showing even greater gains, indicating strong market support for bank stocks [5]. - Analysts believe that the banking sector's valuation is likely to continue recovering, supported by stable market conditions and improving fundamentals, with a focus on the banks' net interest margins and asset quality [5][6]. - The overall stability of core banking operations is expected to support the sector's fundamentals, with positive signals from interest margin and funding costs anticipated to reflect in the sector's revenue performance [6].