---
title: "The Market Review: Hang Seng Index falls 2%, Tech Index breaches the 5,000 mark, financial and airline stocks face selling pressure"
description: "The Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% today, closing at 26,059 points, while the Tech Index fell below 5,000 points. Market sentiment is low due to military actions by the United States and Israel against Ira"
type: "news"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/277438789.md"
published_at: "2026-03-02T09:16:13.000Z"
---

# The Market Review: Hang Seng Index falls 2%, Tech Index breaches the 5,000 mark, financial and airline stocks face selling pressure

> The Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% today, closing at 26,059 points, while the Tech Index fell below 5,000 points. Market sentiment is low due to military actions by the United States and Israel against Iran. Last Friday, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq fell by 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively. The National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference will convene this Wednesday, with the Shanghai Composite Index slightly up. Northbound trading saw a net inflow of 16.214 billion yuan, while Southern Hang Seng Technology stocks fell by 2.8%

The United States and Israel launched military actions against Iran over the weekend, and the U.S. military continued airstrikes on Iran today (February 2). Iran launched missile attacks on Israel and U.S. military bases, with reports indicating that several U.S. military aircraft have crashed. The Hang Seng Index fell today along with external markets, narrowly holding above the 26,000 mark, while the Hang Seng Tech Index fell below the 5,000 point level. The U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for January rose more than expected, and the Dow Jones and Nasdaq both fell 1.1% and 0.9% respectively last Friday (February 27). At the time of writing, the yield on U.S. 2-year bonds rose to 3.418%, and the yield on U.S. 10-year bonds rose to 3.973%, while the U.S. Dollar Index rose to 98.37. Dow futures are down 667 points or 1.4%, and Nasdaq futures are down 434 points or 1.7%. The National People's Political Consultative Conference will be held in Beijing this Wednesday (February 4). The Shanghai Composite Index rose 19 points or 0.47% to close at 4,182 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.2%, and the ChiNext Index fell 0.5%. The total transaction amount in the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets was 3.02 trillion yuan.

The Hang Seng Index opened down 324 points, and the decline later expanded to 747 points, hitting a low of 25,882 points. It closed down 570 points or 2.1% at 26,059 points; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 157 points or 1.8% to close at 8,701 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 148 points or 2.9% to close at 4,989 points. The total market turnover for the day increased to 357.679 billion HKD. The total turnover of northbound trading was 154.741 billion HKD, while southbound funds had a net inflow of 16.214 billion HKD today (net inflow of 14.997 billion HKD on the previous trading day). China Southern Hang Seng Technology (03033.HK) fell 2.8% to close at 4.89 HKD, with a turnover of 27.85 billion HKD. The Tracker Fund of Hong Kong (02800.HK) fell 2.3% to close at 26.28 HKD, with a turnover of 18.988 billion HKD.

Tech stocks faced downward pressure, with Tencent (00700.HK) and NetEase-S (09999.HK) falling 0.8% and 1.1% respectively. Kuaishou-W (01024.HK), Meituan-W (03690.HK), JD.com-SW (09618.HK), Baidu-SW (09888.HK), Alibaba-W (09988.HK), and Bilibili-W (09626.HK) fell between 3.4% and 4.5%. Additionally, electric vehicle stock BYD (01211.HK) will hold a disruptive technology launch event on Thursday (February 5), and its stock price rose 4.4% against the market trend.

【Aviation stocks under pressure, oil and gold stocks rise】

With geopolitical tensions, international oil prices have surged. PetroChina (00857.HK) and CNOOC (00883.HK) saw their stock prices rise 4.1% and 5.6% respectively, while CNOOC Services (02883.HK) rose 7%. Among energy transportation stocks, China Merchants Energy (01138.HK) rose 8.9%. Sinopec Oilfield Services (01033.HK) soared 34%, Shandong Molong (00568.HK) surged 116%, and Baqian Oilfield Services (02178.HK) skyrocketed 105.6% Gold prices rose, with Shandong Gold (01787.HK) and Zhaojin (01818.HK) up 7.1% and 6%, respectively, and Zijin Mining International (02259.HK) up 4.7%. Aluminum stock Hongqiao (01378.HK) rose 7.2%. Airline stocks were affected by disruptions in Middle Eastern routes, with China Southern Airlines (01055.HK) and China Eastern Airlines (00670.HK) down 8.3% and 7.9%, respectively, while Air China (00753.HK) and Cathay Pacific (00293.HK) fell 5.3% and 4.1%.

According to a Citigroup report, under the baseline scenario, Brent crude oil prices are expected to remain in the range of $80 to $90 per barrel for at least the next week. During this period, the conflict between Israel and Iran continues to escalate, increasing risks to regional energy infrastructure, while oil transportation through the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian exports will also be slightly interrupted. The bank stated that its baseline view is that a change in Iran's leadership or regime could end the war within one to two weeks, or that the U.S. may decide to de-escalate the conflict after observing a change in leadership, while also curbing Iran's missile and nuclear programs within the same timeframe. If the situation cools down, oil prices will fall back to around $70 per barrel and maintain some risk premium until the second half of 2026, when they are expected to return to $62 per barrel. The bank also noted that if internal conflict or regional conflict breaks out in Iran, oil prices will remain high for a long time, although this is not the bank's baseline scenario, it remains a possibility.

【Stocks Decline with 1,700 Falling, HSBC and Standard Chartered Weak】

The Hong Kong stock market turned weak, with a rise-to-fall ratio of 12 to 42 for main board stocks (compared to 27 to 24 the previous day), with 1,737 stocks declining (a drop of 3.5%). Today, 12 constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Index rose, while 76 fell, with a rise-to-fall ratio of 14 to 86 (compared to 70 to 27 the previous day). The market recorded short selling of HKD 65.866 billion, accounting for 22.561% of the total turnover of HKD 291.948 billion for shortable stocks.

Local financial stocks were under pressure, not only affected by the Israel-Iran conflict but also impacted by concerns over AI and private credit (following the collapse of Market Financial Solutions (MFS), a UK mortgage institution supported by Wall Street). HSBC (00005.HK) saw its stock price drop nearly 5.2% to HKD 139.7, while Standard Chartered Group (02888.HK) fell 6.5% to HKD 185.6, and Bank of China Hong Kong (02388.HK) dropped 4.7%.

JP Morgan released a report anticipating that the escalation of military tensions in the Middle East will trigger a market-wide risk aversion correction. Among the bank stocks covered by the bank, Standard Chartered may experience a more significant pullback, primarily due to its higher exposure to the Middle East, with expected contributions from loans and revenues in the UAE accounting for 2.5% and 5.6%, respectively, by 2025. As of the second quarter of 2025, approximately 73% of Standard Chartered's loans in the UAE are to government, public institutions, or the banking sector, thus overall credit risk is manageable. Additionally, the bank mentioned that HSBC disclosed that its loans and revenues from the Middle East account for 2.3% and 3.8%, respectively The bank pointed out that, according to reports, the total loan amount of Chinese banks in the Middle East is approximately USD 15.7 billion, accounting for about 0.09% of the total loans of the five major banks. Due to the currently low valuation of domestic banks and the significant flexibility of Chinese policies in responding to macro shocks, the bank believes that compared to other peers in the region, the stock prices of domestic banks will show greater resilience

### Related Stocks

- [00HSI.HK - Hang Seng Index](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/00HSI.HK.md)
- [513180.CN - ChinaAMC Hang Seng Technology ETF(QDII)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/513180.CN.md)
- [03033.HK - CSOP HS TECH](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03033.HK.md)
- [520570.CN - China Southern Hang Seng TECH ETF(QDII)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/520570.CN.md)
- [159740.CN - Dacheng Hang Seng Technology ETF(QDII)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159740.CN.md)
- [513130.CN - Huatai-PB CSOP Hang Seng Technology ETF(QDII)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/513130.CN.md)
- [159742.CN - Hang Seng TECH ETF I](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/159742.CN.md)
- [STECH.HK - Hang Seng TECH Index](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/STECH.HK.md)
- [520920.CN - Tianhong Hang Seng TECH ETF(QDII)](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/520920.CN.md)

## Related News & Research

| Title | Description | URL |
|-------|-------------|-----|
| 財庫局擬推 6 招優化措施 擴大基金定義及投資種類 冀吸引更多基金及家辦 | 財經事務及庫務局局長許正宇宣佈將推出優化基金及家族投資工具的措施，包括擴大基金定義及合資格投資種類，以吸引更多基金及家族辦公室在香港落户。計劃於 2026 年上半年向立法會提交修訂草案，若獲通過，措施將於 2025/26 課税年度生效。此舉 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277401813.md) |
| 罰款、罰金和沒收為政府金庫注入了 21 億港元 | 罰款和處罰在 2025-26 年度為香港政府收入貢獻了 21 億港元（約合 2.6839 億美元），超出預期 26%。這部分收入佔總收入的 0.3%，主要來源於法院罰款、交通罰款和沒收款項。收入增長歸因於罰款增加和沒收案件激增，特別是在《應 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277394263.md) |
| 香港與上海簽署了關於數字貿易融資和跨境數據連接的協議 | 香港和上海簽署了一份諒解備忘錄，以增強在數字化貨物貿易融資和跨境數據整合方面的合作。該協議旨在促進電子提單的使用，並便利中國大陸的貿易數據與全球生態系統的整合。此舉是香港金融管理局（HKMA）CargoX 項目的一部分，旨在現代化貿易融資並 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277451786.md) |
| 香港將擴大對家族辦公室和養老金基金投資的税務豁免 | 香港計劃擴大對家族辦公室和國際組織基金的税收豁免，以提升其作為財富管理中心的地位。政府將向立法會提出一項法案，包含更多投資產品，如私人信貸、黃金和數字資產，以享受税收豁免。此舉旨在吸引更多資金和家族辦公室，單一基金結構的最低資產要求為 2. | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277434248.md) |
| 恒指低開 1.22%，恒生科技指數跌 1.78% | 中國石油股份、中國海洋石油漲逾 5%，紫金礦業、中國石油化工漲逾 2%。風險提示及免責條款 市場有風險，投資需謹慎。本文不構成個人投資建議，也未考慮到個別用户特殊的投資目標、財務狀況或需要。用户應考慮本文中的任何意見、觀點或結論是否符合其特 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277384800.md) |

---

> **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.