Reporter Hong Xiaotang
Against the background of the escalating geopolitical situation in the Middle East, the oil and gas sector of the A-share market has made strong changes and "taken the lead" in just a few days.
Oil and gas stocks set off a frenzy, and public funds responded quickly and adjusted the pace of issuance of related products. On the evening of March 3, E Fund National Securities Oil and Gas ETF (159181) issued an announcement to advance the fundraising time by two working days.
However, in the re-pricing of asset prices caused by geopolitical conflicts, the market is paying attention to whether the resource sector is a trend reversal or a phased transaction? What kind of signal does the fund company’s rush to launch products release?
ETF "rush"
With the recent market performance, public funds have rapidly adjusted the pace of product issuance.
On the evening of March 3, E Fund issued an announcement on adjustments to the fundraising period. The announcement stated that the fundraising time of E Fund National Securities Oil and Natural Gas ETF has been adjusted from March 5 to March 12, 2026. The fund manager can appropriately adjust the fundraising time based on the subscription situation and make a timely announcement, but the maximum statutory fundraising period will not be exceeded.
On February 28, E Fund National Securities Oil and Gas ETF announced that the fund will be on sale from March 9 to March 20, 2026.
This also means that the fund will be released only 2 trading days in advance.
According to public information, the index tracked by E Fund National Securities Oil and Gas ETF is the National Securities Oil and Gas Index, with a product management fee of 0.5% and a custody fee of 0.1%.
A person from the product department of a fund company in South China said that as long as the adjustment of fund raising time is within the validity period of the approval document, fund raising time adjustments can be submitted to regulatory approval, but fund companies still need to communicate with custodians and agency sales channels. If multi-party negotiations are successful, the new fund can adjust its fundraising time.
From a compliance perspective, it is not uncommon for funds to adjust their fundraising time within the validity period of the approval document, but rapid "rushing" when market sentiment is high reflects the manager's judgment on the capital window period.
An investment researcher from a public equity institution in Beijing believes that recently, the geopolitical situation in the Middle East has heated up sharply, international oil prices have risen sharply, the A-share oil and gas sector has experienced a strong rise, the "three barrels of oil" have collectively reached the daily limit, and the scale of oil and gas ETFs has rapidly expanded. E Fund most likely wanted to catch up with this market trend, so it hurriedly adjusted its fundraising period.
According to statistics from Wind, a reporter from the Economic Observer found that the total size of the six existing products tracking the National Securities Oil and Gas Index is approximately 9.122 billion yuan, of which 3 ETFs have a size of 9.090 billion yuan. In the past week alone, the net inflow of funds into three ETFs reached 5.475 billion yuan, accounting for more than 60% of the total. The large inflows in a short period of time reflect the strong impulse of funds to allocate to the oil and gas sector. The rapid expansion of the supply side is also a response to market demand to some extent.
Regarding the details of the fund's adjustment to the fundraising period, a reporter from the Economic Observer contacted E Fund, but did not receive a response as of press time.
Geopolitical conflicts “ignite” oil and gas stocks
The "rush" action of public equity institutions stems from the recent rise in oil and natural gas prices.
As of the close of trading on March 4, the oil and gas index (399439) has increased by more than 40% since the beginning of 2026. Especially on March 3, the A-share market suffered a heavy setback. The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 1.43%, the Shenzhen Composite Index fell by 3.07%, the GEM Index fell by 2.57%, and the Oil and Gas Index bucked the trend and rose by 8.5%. On the evening of the same day, more than a dozen oil and gas stocks and energy stocks, including PetroChina (601857.SH), Sinopec (600028.SH), CNOOC (600938.SH), Zhongman Petroleum (603619.SH), China Oilfield Services (601808.SH), etc., issued collective announcements to warn of risks.
Many listed companies responded to the impact of the situation in the Middle East on their business in announcements or interactive platforms.
In the announcement of changes on the evening of the 3rd, the "three barrels of oil" (CNOOC, China National Petroleum Corporation, and Sinopec) all stated that the recent international crude oil market has been affected by multiple factors such as the geopolitical situation and the supply and demand pattern, and prices have shown a wide range of fluctuations. There is great uncertainty in short-term oil price fluctuations, and investors are reminded to pay attention to risks.
On March 4, the market opened lower and moved lower. The Shanghai Composite Index fluctuated and adjusted, falling 0.98% throughout the day, the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.75%, and the ChiNext Index fell 1.41%. The oil and gas sector opened higher and moved lower, with an intraday drop of more than 7%. As of the close, the sector fell more than rose. China Merchants Energy Shipping, Sinopec, Jerry Holdings, JOVO Energy, etc. fell more than 5%; Intercontinental Oil and Gas rose by the limit; PetroChina rose 0.68%. Its A-share market value exceeded 2.1438 billion yuan, ranking first in the market value.
Opportunity or risk?
The question is: Is this a trend layout or a typical emotional chase?
From a broader perspective, the escalation of the situation in the Middle East may be just a microcosm of the deep reshaping of global geopolitics. Shen Jing, manager of Morgan Stanley Resources Select Hybrid Fund, believes that if the conflict lasts for more than four weeks and touches production infrastructure, global short-term crude oil supply risks will increase significantly. This still requires close monitoring of the direction of the conflict in the coming week.
Many interviewed institutions are relatively optimistic about the future oil and gas market, but they need to pay attention to short-term risks.
Zhang Jingsong, fund manager of China Asset Management, said that geopolitical conflict risks and rising oil prices will benefit assets such as gold, oil and gas, chemicals, and military industries in a phased manner. However, the profit-centered growth logic of the market boom in the first half of the year has not systematically changed, and industrial investment opportunities are still relatively diversified. It is recommended to strengthen the insight and confidence in fundamentals during a period of amplified volatility.
Wang Xiang, fund manager of the oil and gas ETF Boshi, said that oilfield equipment and offshore engineering orders and prosperity are event-driven and elastic, and domestic targets are expected to benefit. Rising insurance costs and the risk of port congestion will increase the cost of the entire chain. Oil shipping leaders and those with superior fleet structures are more flexible. The impact on container shipping and dry bulk cargo will be relatively limited, but attention needs to be paid to the Houthi armed forces’ resumption of disruption to Red Sea traffic.
However, Wang Xiang further reminded that the direction of macro-geopolitical events is difficult to predict, and recurrences are common. High volatility in the oil and gas sector may also lead to fast-paced retracement-repricing switching. It is recommended that investors still treat it with an allocation approach and avoid over-trading short-term emotions.
Thomas Mucha, geopolitical strategist at Wellington Investment Management, believes that in the short term, the market is expected to have a risk aversion trend, which is mainly driven by energy and geopolitical uncertainty rather than direct economic losses. Energy oil prices face asymmetric upside risks. Even without actual supply losses, rising insurance costs, shipping disruptions and geopolitical risk premiums can move oil prices significantly. At this stage, though, the energy shock will complicate the global deflation narrative and reinforce central bank caution even as growth slows elsewhere.
Thomas Mucha further said that volatility in the stock and credit markets is likely to remain high until it is clear whether Iran is setting the limits of the conflict or preparing to escalate the situation.
