The Hang Seng Index opened down 137 points, with technology stocks generally retreating. Alibaba fell by 2%, and SenseTime's stock dropped over 3% | Hong Kong stock market opening

U.S. President Donald Trump deployed the "largest fleet in South American history" to block sanctioned oil tankers entering and exiting Venezuela, and is prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia if it refuses to accept the Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, stimulating a rebound in international oil prices. New York crude oil closed up 1.2% at $55.94; London Brent crude rose 1.3% to $59.68.

Oracle Data Center Project Stalled

Amid renewed market concerns about an AI bubble, the three major U.S. stock indices fell on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones closing down 228 points or 0.47% at 47,885 points; the S&P 500 fell 78 points or 1.16% to 6,721 points; and the Nasdaq dropped 418 points or 1.81% to 22,693 points. Additionally, the U.S. will announce the delayed November CPI data today (18th) due to the government shutdown.

Among the focus stocks, Oracle (ORCL) and private credit firm Blue Owl Capital had planned to arrange up to $10 billion in financing and make a significant equity investment in a data center project in Michigan, but negotiations for the related agreement have stalled, increasing market concerns about AI trading. The stock price fell sharply by 5.4% to $178.46 on Wednesday, while Nvidia (NVDA) also dropped 3.8% to $170.94.

SenseTime Plans to Discount 8.6% in Share Placement to Raise Over 3.1 Billion

In the Hong Kong stock market, the Hang Seng Index opened down 137 points at 25,330 points. Tech stocks generally retreated, with Alibaba (9988) down 2%; Tencent (700) down 0.7%; Meituan (3690) down 0.6%; JD.com (9618) and Xiaomi (1810) also fell 0.8% and 2%, respectively; Baidu (9888) dropped 1.4%.

Additionally, SenseTime (020) plans to place 1.75 billion new Class B shares to raise HKD 3.15 billion, equivalent to 4.4% of the expanded issued Class B shares and 4.3% of the expanded total issued shares, with a placement price of HKD 1.8 per share, representing an 8.6% discount to the previous closing price of HKD 1.97. The stock opened at HKD 1.9, down 3.55%.

HKEX Approves Public Holding Requirement to Drop to 10%

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (388) published a consultation summary regarding the public holding requirement, introducing new measures including an alternative public holding threshold. In addition to the percentage threshold required at the time of listing, issuers may also choose an alternative threshold to meet the ongoing public holding requirement. Specifically, the public holding must account for at least 10% of the total issued shares of the listed class and simultaneously reach a market capitalization of at least HKD 1 billion, providing issuers with greater flexibility for capital management transactions (such as share buybacks). The new regulations will take effect on January 1 next year.

For A+H issuers, the public holding requirement for H shares must account for at least 5% of the total issued H shares or reach a market capitalization of at least HKD 1 billion to ensure there are always sufficient H shares available for public trading The stock price of Hong Kong Stock Exchange reported HKD 395 this morning, down 0.85%.

Related article: Hong Kong Stock Exchange revises the public float requirement and introduces alternative thresholds.

Regarding the northbound capital flow, there was a net purchase of HKD 7.91 billion in Hong Kong stocks yesterday, with Xiaomi (1810), Meituan (3690), and Southern Hang Seng Technology (3033) receiving net purchases of HKD 1.063 billion, HKD 751 million, and HKD 745 million respectively; while China Mobile (941) and CNOOC (883) experienced net sales of HKD 514 million and HKD 132 million respectively