Baidu becomes first technology giant to make a flat debut in Hong Kong stock market this year as investors spurn the pivot by China’s dominant search engine towards artificial intelligence

• Baidu’s shares opened with a 0.8-per cent premium to its offer price of HK$252 before ending their first day of trading unchanged
• Baidu gained as much as 1.8 per cent, and briefly fell by 0.2 per cent below its IPO price