Hong Kong stocks slip on profit-taking after TSMC’s upbeat AI outlook
Hang Seng Index retreats despite TSMC’s earnings outlook bolstering confidence in AI-related demand and lifting risk appetite globally
The Hang Seng Index lost 0.3 per cent to 26,844.96 at the close of trading, after rising as much as 0.9 per cent to touch 27,176.31. The benchmark finished this week with a 2.3 per cent gain. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.1 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index dropped 0.4 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3 per cent.
Blind-box toymaker Pop Mart International dropped 5.6 per cent to HK$178.60, after a labour group claimed that one of its Chinese suppliers which manufactured its flagship Labubu toy had exploited workers. Search-engine giant Baidu slid 0.4 per cent to HK$145.60, while short-video sharing platform Kuaishou Technology fell 1.5 per cent to HK$78.35.
E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding added 1 per cent to HK$166.20, and Chinese home-grown chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation advanced 2.4 per cent to HK$79.20. Electric-car maker BYD added 0.1 per cent to HK$99.20.
“Hong Kong stocks are facing short-term profit-taking pressure near recent highs, with 27,200 remaining a short-term resistance level,” said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Usmart Securities.
He added that mainland China’s move to restore the margin financing requirement to 100 per cent, alongside targeted rate cuts, signalled policy fine-tuning aimed at cooling an overheated equity market while continuing to support the real economy through selective monetary easing.