Hong Kong stocks rise 142 points in mixed session; tech shares surge
Hong Kong stocks opened November with mixed trading, with the Hang Seng Index up 142 points (0.6%) by midday. Tech and AI shares rallied, while bank stocks fell after earnings reports.
Hong Kong stocks opened November with mixed performance, the Hang Seng Index initially surging nearly 250 points to a high of 23,543 before briefly falling into the red by over 20 points. By midday, the index rebounded in line with mainland Chinese markets, closing the morning session at 23,437 points, up 142 points or 0.6 per cent. Turnover on the main board exceeded 114.1 billion Hong Kong dollars in the morning session, according to RTHK.
Sectoral performance was uneven. The technology index rose about 3 per cent to 3,862 points. The so-called ATMXJ group of major Chinese tech stocks gained between 1 per cent and over 6 per cent, with Xiaomi posting the strongest performance.
Chip and artificial-intelligence related stocks also performed well. MiniMax surged nearly 9 per cent. CATL, the battery giant, rose nearly 7 per cent, making it the best-performing blue-chip stock.
Bank stocks came under heavy selling pressure. China Construction Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Merchants Bank all fell nearly 2 per cent or more after reporting earnings. HSBC dropped over 2 per cent. Bank of China and Bank of China (Hong Kong) were the two worst-performing blue chips, falling nearly 4 per cent or more after their earnings releases.
Utility stocks were soft, and some mobile-phone related stocks came under pressure, with BYD Electronic falling nearly 4 per cent.