Public offerings achieved a record high profit of 2.61 trillion yuan last year; market logic may shift from valuation repair to profit improvement.

Securities Times reporter Li Mingzhu

With the disclosure of annual reports by public funds completed, total industry profits reached 2.61 trillion yuan, shattering the historical high in one fell swoop. Judging from the profit performance of individual funds, broad-based index ETFs have clearly become the unquestionable “main force.” Among them, Huatai-PineBridge’s CSI 300 ETF, with profits of 785.16 billion yuan, took the crown of the “most profitable fund” for 2025.

Public fund profits hit a record high

In 2025, China’s public fund market achieved historic results. According to data from Tianxiang Investment Consultancy, 163 public fund management firms generated total profits of 2.61 trillion yuan from public funds in 2025, setting a new record high. Compared with profits of 1.28 trillion yuan in 2024, this represents a doubling.

By fund type, in terms of total profits, stock funds posted total profits of 1.13 trillion yuan in their 2025 annual reports, becoming the biggest contributor. Hybrid funds ranked second in profit contribution, posting 0.87 trillion yuan, and achieved a significant increase compared with the same period last year. Bond funds, QDII funds, money market funds, and commodity funds all recorded profits above 100 billion yuan. Overall profits for bond funds and money market funds both exceeded 180 billion yuan, each declining significantly compared with the same period last year.

Commodity funds had the highest profit growth rate. In 2025, 63 commodity-type funds recorded profits of 103.794 billion yuan, up 551.07% year over year from 2024. Their growth rate ranked first among all categories; FOF funds also showed very strong momentum—979 FOF funds generated profits of 18.685 billion yuan, up 267.38% year over year. In terms of average profits, commodity funds were 1.648 billion yuan, overseas investment funds were 0.205 billion yuan, and stock funds were 0.2 billion yuan, ranking among the top three.

Broad-based ETFs are “the most profitable”

Focusing on the profit performance of individual funds, the advantages of broad-based index ETFs are especially prominent. Of the top 20 public funds by profit, 19 are stock-type and commodity-type funds. ETFs take 18 spots, and 12 of them are broad-based ETFs. The commodity-type funds that rank toward the top by profit are primarily gold ETF products.

Among them, Huatai-PineBridge’s CSI 300 ETF became the “most profitable fund product” with profits of 785.16 billion yuan. Next is E Fund’s CSI 300 ETF, with profits of 55.988 billion yuan. Huaxia’s CSI 300 ETF and E Fund’s ChiNext ETF each posted profits exceeding 40 billion yuan. Southern’s CSI 500 ETF and Zhenxing’s CSI 300 ETF each posted profits exceeding 30 billion yuan. In addition, there are four ETFs with profits exceeding 20 billion yuan. Across the whole market, a total of 15 ETF funds generated more than 10 billion yuan in profits in 2025.

For active equity funds, Rayliay’s Prosperity Growth Value Hybrid A posted profits of 9.454 billion yuan, becoming the most profitable active fund, and also the only active equity fund ranked within the top 20 by profit. The second-place fund is Xingzheng Global’s Xingrun Hybrid A, with profits of 7.034 billion yuan in 2025. Noan’s Prosperity Growth Hybrid A ranked third with profits of 6.103 billion yuan.

It is worth noting that the surge in gold prices brought significant gains to related thematic funds. Among them, gold ETFs became one of the standout products in 2025. An An Gold ETF posted profits of as much as 236.9 billion yuan, ranking tenth on the nationwide fund profit leaderboard, and also becoming the most profitable gold ETF of the year. Bosera Gold ETF and E Fund’s Gold ETF also performed well, posting profits of 10.955 billion yuan and 9.558 billion yuan, respectively, jointly demonstrating the strong profit-generating ability of gold-themed funds.

Fund managers collectively bullish on A-shares

Based on the disclosed 2025 annual reports, most public fund managers show an optimistic outlook on the 2026 A-share market. They believe the market overall has a foundation for upside movement, and that performance across the full year is worth looking forward to.

Fu Pengbo, fund manager at Rayliay Fund, pointed out that although recent changes in the Middle East’s geopolitical situation and the situation in East Asia after Japan’s election have exerted some suppression on A-shares’ risk appetite, the stance that domestic economic resilience is strong and investors’ confidence is continuously being restored has not changed. Looking ahead, expectations for improvement in funding conditions are somewhat positive in the current market, but under the combined effects of accelerating credit deployment, residents gradually converting savings into investment, and policy efforts in the opening year of the “14th Five-Year and 5-Year” period, A-shares still have a fairly solid performance foundation.

Liu Jun, fund manager at Huatai-PineBridge Fund, said that in 2026, the mid-term allocation value of China’s assets is expected to continue to rise, and the upward pattern for A-shares is likely to continue. Against this backdrop, the driving logic for the A-share market this year may gradually switch from valuation repair in 2025 to improvement in earnings, with core assets likely becoming the leading force behind market performance. On one hand, as the domestic economy rebounds steadily and corporate earnings gradually improve, the earnings and growth resilience of core assets are expected to become even more prominent. On the other hand, under the leadership of “industrial technology plus expanding domestic demand,” core assets with advantages in core technologies and deeply bound to the domestic-demand market are likely to continue receiving key allocations of global capital and domestic institutional capital, and could become one of the core engines for market performance.

Xie Zhiyu, fund manager at Earning Securities Global Fund, believes that in 2026, the main focus is still the nonlinear growth driven by AI. After the stabilization and rebound of the macroeconomy, the differentiation and recovery in traditional industries are also worth looking forward to. On the international front, “black swan” events occur from time to time, causing large swings in commodity prices and market risk appetite. But unlike 2022, when the world economy was in a downturn, 2026 is in a dividend period supported by the technology revolution wave and industrial policy. International “black swan” events are more of a short-term trading disturbance; for the full year, the main line will be AI’s development and the macroeconomy’s stabilization and recovery.

Xu Zhiyan, fund manager at Huian Fund, said that in 2026, the global macroeconomic environment will be favorable, with fiscal expansion and easier monetary liquidity. Large categories of asset allocation are likely to have good opportunities. Specifically regarding the performance of gold assets, the key focus is three pricing main lines. First is the traditional U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy cycle. Second are issues related to the U.S. dollar credit and the resulting global central bank gold-buying schedule. Before midterm elections, geopolitical situations and tariff policies may still have uncertainties, stimulating demand for gold’s safe-haven allocation. Third is that gold shows low correlation with stocks and bonds. In the current low-interest-rate environment, gold allocation has attracted greater attention from both institutions and individual investors, and the influence of this portion of funds on gold’s pricing is increasing day by day.

(Editor: Dong Pingping)

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