PTA market prices are on the rise, phenol market prices hit new highs, and institutions are optimistic about which niche segments | A-shares clues

Ask AI · How does the Middle East situation affect PTA cost support?

A-share market clues

1、Iran says it turned back 3 vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz

According to a report by Xinhua News Agency citing Iranian media on the 27th, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps issued a statement saying that on that day it turned back three container ships attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The statement said that U.S. President Donald Trump falsely claimed that the “Strait of Hormuz is open,” and that on the day three container ships of different nationalities attempted to enter the designated licensed passage for vessels; after receiving warnings from the IRGC Navy, they reversed course. The statement said that the Strait of Hormuz is now closed, and that any ships coming from or heading to U.S. and Israeli ally ports are prohibited from passing through it. Any attempt to cross the Strait of Hormuz without authorization will face “severe measures.” Trump said on the 26th that Iran allowed 10 tankers to transit the Strait of Hormuz, as a “gift” to the United States.

2、U.S.-based asset manager applies to launch a 2x leveraged ETF on SpaceX and Anthropic

According to regulatory filings, U.S. asset manager REX Shares and Tuttle Capital Management plan to launch a 2x leveraged exchange-traded fund (ETF) linked to the publicly traded common stock that is not yet issued by SpaceX and the artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The plan aims to jump on the “bandwagon” of this year’s two most popular initial public offerings (IPOs) in the U.S. stock market as early as possible. It is said that investors holding the two funds T-Rex 2x Long SpaceX Daily Target ETF and T-Rex 2x Long Anthropic Daily Target ETF will receive 200% of the daily upside after the listing of these two companies.

3、Cost drives PTA prices higher again; phenol prices hit a new high

Today, the PTA spot price rose by 160 to 6,730. Influenced by changes in the Middle East situation, the PTA market fell and then rebounded this week. During the week, there were signs of easing in the Middle East situation, international oil prices plunged, dragging PX lower. Combined with inventory building in the supply-demand balance sheet, the PTA market price fell from its high level during the week. However, as the weekend approached, prospects for U.S.-Iran talks remained unclear; crude oil and raw materials strengthened again. Costs then pushed PTA prices higher again. Overall, although inventory is building in the supply-demand pipeline, oil prices rebounding has strengthened cost support; in the near term, PTA prices may mainly trade in line with fluctuations on the raw-material side. The actual trend will still need to watch for developments on external news, plant conditions, and cost support driven by crude oil.

In addition, according to Zhichuang Information, in March, amid high costs and rising market risk-aversion sentiment, phenol prices overall showed an upward trend, with the market’s price level in the phase approaching the top levels of the past five years. With expectations of tight supply chain conditions, industry participants still hold some optimism about the April market; market prices may trend and operate at high levels.

CITIC Securities (CICC) Securities notes, Looking ahead to 2026, this round of capacity expansions is nearing its end. Measures such as “anti-overcompetition” are expected to catalyze a repair at the bottom of industry profitability. Meanwhile, new materials will benefit from the rapid development of downstream demand and may kick off another cycle of high growth. In the short term, ongoing geopolitical conflicts continue to affect the supply and transportation of crude oil and certain petrochemical products, increasing the magnitude of volatility. Focus areas include: 1) large energy central enterprises; 2) leading companies in coal chemical industries with stable raw-material supply and relatively low costs; 3) fine-chemicals leading firms with a better supply-demand pattern and smooth cost pass-through. For the medium-to-long term, the recommended investment main lines are: 1) traditional chemical leaders, where business resilience has become more prominent—by positioning in fields such as new materials, their competitive strengths can improve against the tide; with a backdrop of recovering industry sentiment, they are expected to see both earnings and valuation upgrades; 2) sustained catalysts such as “anti-overcompetition”—focus on sub-industries with steadily improving supply-demand conditions, including refining and chemicals, polyester, dyes, organosilicon, agrochemicals, refrigerants, and phosphor-chemicals; 3) rapid development in downstream industries, where companies in the new materials sector have broad room for growth.

4、Two ministries: charge satellite operators a radio frequency occupancy fee based on the bandwidth actually used by space business

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance issued a notice on optimizing and improving standards for radio frequency occupancy fees. First, optimize the space business charging standards system. For non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite constellation systems and networked geostationary orbit (GSO) satellite systems, the charging will be adjusted from collecting fees separately from satellite operators and earth-station set-up entities based on space radio and earth stations, to collecting based on the bandwidth actually occupied by space business from the satellite operators. For NGSO satellite constellation systems with fewer than 200 satellites, fees will be charged based on the number of space radios; for NGSO satellite constellation systems with 200 satellites or more, fees will be charged uniformly per system. Second, lower charging standards for high-frequency bands. For NGSO satellite constellation systems, networked GSO satellite systems, microwave stations, and broadband wireless access systems, refine the fees by frequency bands (from high to low), with some high-frequency band frequencies subject to lower fee standards. Third, establish charging standards for new types of radio applications. Clarify charging standards for radio applications such as the 5G—railway dedicated wireless communication system, industrial private networks, unmanned aerial vehicles (limited to licensed ones), and broadband digital trunked communication systems.

Dongwu Securities’ January research report notes, satellite communications have entered a fast track of development—identify two major investment directions. As the strategic positioning of satellite communication networks keeps becoming more prominent, industry resources accelerate their aggregation and provide empowerment, and in addition, competition intensifies due to faster iterations by overseas leading enterprises, China’s satellite communications industry is expected to enter a golden development cycle, with the pace of industry development continuing to accelerate. All links in the industrial chain—satellite deployment, network construction, terminal applications, and more—are expected to benefit fully. We suggest focusing on the following directions:

Grasp the certainty of beneficiaries in the industry. The satellite communications industry chain is long enough and the market space is large enough. Some companies entered the space earlier and already have strong positioning advantages. At the same time, there are many chain links in which they participate, and they also take part in frontier developments in the next-generation 6G communications network. In the future, they are expected to grow into core industry forces. The certainty of capturing the industry’s Beta upside is relatively high; we suggest focusing on them. Key companies to watch include: XinKe Mobile, Haige Communications, Fiberhome Technologies, and others;

Actively position leading players in sub-sectors. The satellite communications development cycle from network construction to application rollout is long, and the development pace differs clearly across sub-sectors. The current development focus is on the deployment of communications satellites, where both soft and hard components on the satellites have a relatively high degree of benefit, such as phased-array antennas, optical-electrical interconnects, inter-satellite laser communications, core networks, and the like. In the future, as network construction improves and the industry moves into the application phase, earth stations and ground terminals are expected to show strong growth elasticity. Key companies to watch include: Zhenyou Technology, Shaanxi Huada, Tongyu Communications, Zhenlei Technology, Chengchang Technology, Shanghai Hanxun, Guobo Electronics, West Test, Mengsheng Electronics, Weiwei Communications, and others.

March 27 market clues

The market opened low and then rose; the Shenzhen Component Index gained more than 1%. The trading value in both Shanghai and Shenzhen markets has been below 2 trillion yuan for two consecutive days. Today it was only 18.5k yuan, a contraction of 90.3 billion yuan versus the previous trading day.

1、Guanqiao Futures carbonates lithium benchmark contract jumps more than 6%; lithium battery industry chain explodes

More than a dozen component stocks hit the daily limit; Rongjie Co. had a four-session winning streak limit-up; Shida Shenghua had a two-session winning streak limit-up; Jiangte Electric and Jinyuan Co., Shengxin Lithium Energy, Ganfeng Lithium, Haike New Energy, and Chuan Neng Power all hit the daily limit-up.

On the news side, as of the close, the benchmark carbonates lithium contract on Guangqi Futures rose by more than 6%, breaking 160k yuan/ton during the day, and closed at 168,440 yuan/ton.

According to a report by Xinhua News Agency on February 26, the government of Zimbabwe announced on the 25th that it would pause all exports of raw ore and lithium spodumene concentrate. Market participants expected at the end of February that the impact of Zimbabwe’s export policy adjustment on the market would last for about one month.

On March 26, a 21st Jingxun reporter called multiple A-share companies in China that have deployed lithium resources in Zimbabwe as an investor. The export ban mentioned above has not changed.

Zhengxin Futures notes, the disruption from Zimbabwe’s export ban, combined with a fundamentally strong backdrop, has led to a certain recovery in lithium prices.

It is worth noting that after the U.S.-Iran conflict broke out, international crude oil and natural gas prices surged dramatically. Zhengxin Futures notes, the Middle East is a core global supply region for oil and gas, and the Strait of Hormuz accounts for the function of transporting 20% of the world’s crude oil and 20% of the world’s LNG. The conflict rapidly pushes up oil and gas prices. Higher oil prices could strengthen the logic of renewable energy substitution (energy storage, new energy vehicles), which in turn would drive demand for lithium carbonate.

2、104 Chinese pharma companies will bring more than 250 innovative drugs to AACR annual meeting; pharma sector strengthens

Ketuo Biotech rose to a 20cm limit-up; Menuo Pharma had a five-out-of-six session winning streak limit-up; Wanfangde had a three-out-of-four session winning streak limit-up; and Double-Lu Pharmaceutical had a three-session winning streak limit-up.

On the news side, according to Jiemian News, from April 17 to 22, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting will be held in San Diego, and 104 Chinese pharma companies will bring more than 250 innovative drugs to the event.

Guohai Securities notes, last week the pharma sector fell. We believe the logic behind innovative drugs and devices has not changed; domestic companies’ innovation capabilities are gradually strengthening. In addition, the AACR annual meeting will be held in San Diego, U.S., from April 17 to 22, 2026. The 104 Chinese pharma companies will bring 250+ innovative drugs to the conference. Of the 92 ADC drugs, they cover popular targets such as CDH17, Claudin18.2, HER2, and Nectin-4. Of the 66 small-molecule drugs, they cover targets such as KRAS, PRMT5, WRN, and CDK. Cutting-edge technologies such as radiopharmaceuticals, DAC, cell therapy, and mRNA will also disclose preclinical data. Key companies to focus on include: Hengrui Medicine, Biocad? (Wait? as in original) Baio (?)—Hua—(keep as in original): Hengrui Pharmaceutical, BeiGene? (Actually original: 百奥赛图, 复宏汉霖, 荣昌生物, 和誉生物, 亚盛医药, 长春金赛, 百济神州, 再鼎医药).

3、BASF raises prices for the fifth time within a month; chemical sector shows active performance

Suli Co., Lubei Chemical, Sinochem Fertilizer, and Jinkuang Technology all hit the daily limit-up.

On the news side, according to Caixin Global, local time on Wednesday, global chemical giant BASF announced that due to cost increases caused by the U.S.-U.K.-Iran war (U.S.-Israel war?) leading to cost increases, the company will raise the prices of more products. BASF said it will increase prices for its basic amine product portfolio in Europe, with the increase reaching up to 30%, and some products may see even higher increases. The price adjustment takes effect immediately or can be implemented when allowed by existing contract terms. This is also the fifth price-increase announcement published by BASF on its website since the war began nearly a month ago. The company reiterated that this is a response to the sharp rise in raw-material prices, as well as energy and logistics costs, caused by the military conflict in the Middle East.

Jingjin Securities notes, whether considering the sources of economic claims brought about by this war or the loss of supply and transportation capacity associated with the war parties and neighboring countries, oil and gas prices are expected to remain at elevated levels in most likelihood and are difficult to eliminate in a short time for chemicals. The duration of the continuing impact is expected to be significantly extended.

4、Big manufacturers including Samsung and SK hynix closely track process material supply; helium concept strengthens in the afternoon

Jinhong Gas and Kemete Gas both rose more than 7%; Walter Gas, Shifa? (水发燃气) and others followed higher.

On the news side, according to industry insiders, spot helium prices have been surging and have already risen by more than 50%. The procurement departments of semiconductor manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Eastern High-Tech have been checking the supply situation and price fluctuations of key materials every day to prevent production interruptions.

Huaxin Securities notes, helium is a byproduct of natural gas, and Qatar is a core country supplying helium globally, while it is also China’s core helium supplier. In the previous Russia-Ukraine conflict round, helium was also the product with the largest price elasticity among oil and gas resources. Even if the Strait of Hormuz resumes navigation, helium will face at least 2–3 months of global shortages. Relevant stocks: Guanggang Gas, JF? (九丰能源), Jinhong Gas.