Northbound funds recorded a net inflow of HK$2.9 billion, marking the 14th consecutive day of net buying in Hong Kong stocks. However, note that mainland markets will be closed tomorrow for the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, suspending northbound trading for one day.
Interest rate markets show the probability of a 25-basis-point Fed rate hike in October surged from 55.4% a day earlier to over 70%. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield once again breached the 5% level, peaking at 5.139%, while the U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose 15 basis points to 7.12%, a more than two-year high. Tech and internet stocks generally declined, with Baidu (09888) down 2.54% at HK$86.30, Tencent (00700) down 0.59% at HK$438.40, Baidu (09888) down 2.65% at HK$86.20, Meituan (03690) down 0.82% at HK$72.25, JD.com (09618) down 0.47% at HK$105.60, and Kuaishou (01024) down 0.91% at HK$30.50.
CATL (03750) was weighed down by the shadow of "de-CATL-ization" and market pessimism over Sino-U.S. trade talks, breaking below the HK$500 level again this morning after a few days, plunging 3.66% for the day to close at HK$492.80.
Morgan Stanley expects Alibaba (09988) to achieve a US$240 billion cloud revenue capacity, supported by rapid monetization of Tongyi Qianwen and rising penetration of Pingtouge, maintaining its overweight rating and US$180 target price on Alibaba's U.S. shares, and naming it a top pick. Alibaba's Hong Kong shares reversed gains at midday, closing up 0.18% at HK$110.00 for the day.
Xiaomi (01810) held its autumn launch event, unveiling the Xiaomi 18 Pro series smartphones, priced from RMB 5,999, with actual prices after trade-in subsidies starting from RMB 5,499; the transparent special edition phones priced from RMB 9,999; the Xiaomi Pro Max series priced from RMB 6,999, with the Pro Max transparent special edition (16GB+1TB) priced at RMB 10,999. Xiaomi's share price reversed to rise 1.53% in the afternoon, closing at HK$26.58.
Rising expectations of continued Fed rate hikes pressured stocks; CMOC (03993) fell 3.7% to HK$15.08, Zijin (02899) dropped 2.56% to HK$32.72. Rising oil prices boosted oil stocks against the broader market trend, with PetroChina (00857) up 2.83% at HK$9.615, and CNOOC (00883) up 2.14% at HK$23.84.
The four major mainland banks rose to support the market: Agricultural Bank of China (01288) up 1.77% at HK$6.61, ICBC (01398) up 1.59% at HK$7.66, Bank of China (03988) up 0.67% at HK$6.04, and China Construction Bank (00939) up 0.21% at HK$9.68.
Biotech index constituents fell almost across the board: InnoCare Pharma (09969) plunged 7.87% to HK$14.51, DualityBio (09606) down 7.77% at HK$198.30, Ascentage Pharma (06855) down 5.89% at HK$29.10, Zai Lab (09688) down 5.13% at HK$19.98, Genscript Biotech (01548) down 4.84% at HK$39.74, and 3SBio (01530) down 4.64% at HK$16.22.
China's Ministry of Commerce confirmed the first AI dialogue between China and the U.S., with large AI models showing mixed performance: Zhipu (02513) down 1.77% at HK$638.50, MiniMax (00100) up 1.45% at HK$279.00, SenseTime (00020) up 4.42% at HK$1.30.
The top three most actively traded stocks in the Hang Seng Index were Tencent, Alibaba, and CATL. The top three in the China Enterprises Index were Tencent, Alibaba, and Xiaomi. The top three in the Tech Index were Tencent, Zhipu, and Alibaba. (ey)