HK slips as regional markets end mixed amid tech lift
Mainland stocks closed up on Thursday, as strong revenue projections from US chip giant Nvidia boosted investor appetite for artificial intelligence and hardware-related shares. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 87 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,565 on turnover of HK$233.51 billion. The tech index, which is dominated by internet platform firms and lack major hardware makers,…
Hong Kong's main stock index slipped as regional markets ended mixed on Thursday, buoyed by a strong performance from US chipmaker Nvidia. The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 87 points, or 0.3 percent, to 25,565 on a trading volume of HK$233.51 billion. The tech index, which is heavily weighted towards internet platform firms without major hardware players, dipped by 5 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,620. Meanwhile, the China enterprises index declined 43 points, or 0.5 percent, to 8,490.
Nvidia's optimism stemmed from its announcement of a 70 percent revenue increase for the year, highlighting the sustained demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware. This led to a surge in AI developer Minimax shares, which rose by 3.8 percent after reporting a nearly four times growth in first-half revenue. Zhongji Innolight also gained 3.1 percent following its inclusion in the Stock Connect trading list.
Mainland Chinese stocks experienced a positive day, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing up 44 points, or 1.13 percent, at 3,956 on a turnover of 1.01 trillion yuan. The Shenzhen Component Index climbed 207 points, or 1.5 percent, to 14,048 on almost 1.12 trillion yuan in turnover, while the ChiNext Index added 58 points, or 1.71 percent, to 3,473 on 542.32 billion yuan in turnover.
Technology and hardware manufacturing shares drove the gains in mainland markets, with the 5G Communication Index increasing by 3.8 percent and AI shares rising 3.6 percent. The tech-focused Star50 Index climbed 3.8 percent.
Outside Hong Kong, Chinese memory chip giant CXMT surged 5.4 percent, while Shengyi Technology, a supplier of electronic base materials, jumped 8.4 percent. Additionally, optical fiber producers benefited from the rally, with Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable surging 10 percent to its daily maximum. Non-ferrous metal shares continued their upward trend, rising 1.5 percent, led by gold miners. Hunan Gold increased 10 percent to its daily trading maximum.
Export-focused Chinese industrial firms reported slower profit growth in July, as global AI boom drivers supported onshore sectors. In contrast, Tokyo's Nikkei index fell 130 points, or 0.2 percent, to 66,131, while Japan's broader Topix rose six points, or 0.15 percent, to 4,117. Seoul's Kospi index ended the day up 104 points, or 1.53 percent, at 6,912, as South Korean shares gained more than one percent, with chipmakers benefiting from upbeat demand forecasts from Nvidia.
Written by urgent.news from RTHK News - Finance's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
