Hong Kong stocks decline, taking cues from US rout on jitters about AI disruption
Sell-offs also whiplash commodity markets, with both gold and silver slumping as traders unwind positions to cover soured bets on equities
The Hang Seng Index slid 1.7 per cent to 26,567.12 at the close. For the week, the gauge barely budged, with a less than 0.1 per cent gain. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.9 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both retreated 1.3 per cent.
Trading was light ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, with daily volumes in Hong Kong about 40 per cent below the 30-day average, based on Bloomberg data. The city’s financial market will close after the morning session on Monday and reopen on February 20, while the mainland’s bourses will be closed from Monday to February 23.
Search engine operator Baidu slumped 3.1 per cent to HK$135.80, Alibaba Group Holding tumbled 2 per cent to HK$155.40 and Tencent Holdings lost 0.7 per cent to HK$532. Zijin Mining Group dropped 7.6 per cent to HK$41.58, tracking a pullback in gold prices.
Key US equity indexes posted their biggest declines in three weeks overnight as jitters returned over the ability of new AI models to automate workflows, potentially decimating industries from software and logistics to wealth management. The shake-up reflects that investors have started to reassess the potential fallout of AI after years of frenzied investment that fuelled valuation expansion in tech stocks.
“The market’s relationship with artificial intelligence and adjacent proxies continues to pivot from infatuation to interrogation,” said Stephen Innes, a managing partner at SPI Asset Management. “The easy multiple expansion regime appears to have transitioned into a more analytical and selective environment. Capital is becoming more discriminating.”