Investors looking to allocate to the consumer sectors of A-shares and Hong Kong stocks may consider focusing on indices that target leading companies in these segments, such as the CSI Consumer 50 Index and the CSI Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect Consumer Theme Index.

Specifically, both the CSI Consumer 50 Index and the CSI Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect Consumer Theme Index reflect the performance of the consumer sector. While their most obvious difference lies in their focus on different markets, they also differ in terms of sector distribution and constituent stocks.

Differences in Sector Distribution

According to Wind's primary industry classification, the CSI Consumer 50 Index is primarily composed of consumer staples (57%) and consumer discretionary (41%), with the remaining 2% consisting of industrials, healthcare, and information technology. In contrast, the CSI Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect Consumer Theme Index has a lower proportion of consumer staples (15%), with consumer discretionary accounting for nearly 60% and information technology making up about 25%.

Delving deeper into Wind's secondary industry classification, the top three weighted sectors in the CSI Consumer 50 Index are food, beverage & tobacco; durable consumer goods & apparel; and consumer services II, collectively accounting for over 95% of the index. Among these, food, beverage & tobacco has the highest weight at over 55%. For the CSI Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect Consumer Theme Index, the top three weighted sectors are software & services, automobiles & auto components, and retail, collectively representing about 51% of the index, indicating a more balanced and dispersed sector distribution.

Compared to the CSI Consumer 50 Index, the CSI Hong Kong-Shenzhen Connect Consumer Theme Index additionally covers automobiles & auto components, technology hardware & equipment, and media II, but does not include capital goods, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology & life sciences, or food & staples retailing II.