Hong Kong stocks closed (08.10) | The Hang Seng Index rose by 1.05%, with pharmaceuticals, real estate, and gold stocks gaining. Guotai Junan International resumed trading and surged by 36%

According to Zhitong Finance APP, the U.S. non-farm payrolls for July unexpectedly turned negative, cooling interest rate hike expectations. The three major indices of the Hong Kong stock market fluctuated higher throughout the day, all closing up over 1%. By the end of trading, the Hang Seng Index rose 1.05% or 269.46 points, closing at 25,937.49 points, with a total turnover of HKD 240.28 billion; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.06%, closing at 8,621.84 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 1.26%, closing at 4,919.46 points.

Huatai Securities believes that the current rebound in Hong Kong stocks is more due to cross-market rebalancing during the deleveraging process of AI hardware, as well as the high-low switching of pure long institutions, with a stronger capital-driven attribute. Considering that AI hardware shows signs of stabilization, coupled with the upcoming interim report season for Hong Kong stocks, it is recommended to maintain a balanced allocation in three directions. First, low-volatility dividends remain the core holding; second, consumer goods that may confirm the bottom of the business cycle in the interim report; third, AI chains that are under pressure on the capital side but still have a favorable demand logic.

Blue Chip Performance

LAOPU GOLD (06181) led the blue chips. By the end of trading, it rose 12.39%, closing at HKD 395.6, with a turnover of HKD 1.479 billion, contributing 4.45 points. Gold prices strongly broke away from the consolidation range of the past two months, driven by weak U.S. labor data, soaring nearly USD 300 over the week, marking the best weekly performance since January. Morgan Stanley stated that gold prices stabilized in the third quarter, showing initial signs of improvement, and some LAOPU GOLD stores had queues again in early August.

In other blue chip stocks, Chow Tai Fook (01929) rose 6.63%, closing at HKD 13.03, contributing 2.38 points to the Hang Seng Index; Hansoh Pharmaceutical (03692) rose 4.92%, closing at HKD 34.54, contributing 3.79 points; China Life (02628) fell 2.57%, closing at HKD 28.06, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 8.44 points.

Popular Sectors

On the market, large tech stocks generally performed well, with JD.com, Alibaba, and Xiaomi all rising over 2%; multiple favorable factors continued to ferment, with pharmaceutical stocks dominating the screen, particularly in AI pharmaceuticals and CRO directions; the unexpected non-farm payrolls combined with the central bank's continued gold purchases led to strong performances in gold and gold jewelry stocks; the significant new real estate policy in Beijing was implemented, with most domestic property stocks rebounding; the pork concept, coal, and film concepts mostly performed well. On the other hand, optical communication, storage concepts, and chip stocks led the decline, with Zhongji Xuchuang falling nearly 7% due to concerns over AAOI's expansion plan.

Pharmaceutical stocks strengthened again. By the end of trading, Baidu Saito-B (02315) rose 11.08%, closing at HKD 68.65; Jitai Technology-P (07666) rose 7.91%, closing at HKD 12; Jingtai Holdings (02228) rose 7.68%, closing at HKD 8.13; Kingsray Biotechnology (01548) rose 5.13%, closing at HKD 24.16.

WuXi AppTec announced on Sunday that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia approved the company's preliminary injunction motion on August 7, during the period when the company is suing for being placed on the 1260H list, the U.S. Department of Defense is prohibited from enforcing related determinations or taking any other actions based on it. The company stated that this ruling protects it from the immediate adverse effects of the 1260H determination during the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense. In the same week the injunction was issued, the company delivered its strongest interim report ever and fully raised its annual performance guidance Some brokerages believe that AI is expected to become an important driving force for the revaluation of pharmaceutical stocks. From the perspective of the industry chain, the AI-enabled drug discovery DBTL (Design-Build-Test-Learn) workflow has formed a closed loop, with overseas company Twist Bioscience having received orders for validation. In the process, the client is responsible for the AI side's "Design," while Twist undertakes the intermediate "Build-Test" experimental stages.

Most domestic property stocks rebounded. As of the close, Country Garden (02007) rose 8.99% to HKD 0.194; Shimao Group (00813) rose 4.41% to HKD 0.071; Sunac China (01918) rose 4.31% to HKD 0.605.

Beijing's significant new real estate policy has been implemented, lowering the purchase threshold for non-Beijing residents to one year, with the maximum provident fund loan set at 3.4 million yuan. Guotai Junan Securities pointed out that the current Beijing real estate market has shown characteristics such as stabilized demand, reduced supply, policy support, dominance of rigid demand, and a rebound in transaction prices. The new policy is expected to further lower the cost of home purchases, release incremental demand, and improve market expectations, with effects likely to be on par with or slightly better than the "Shanghai Seven" policies introduced in February this year.

Gold and gold jewelry stocks led the gains. As of the close, Zijin Mining International (02259) rose 5.03% to HKD 144; Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining (06693) rose 4.69% to HKD 39.28; Chow Tai Fook (01929) rose 6.63% to HKD 13.03.

The disappointing non-farm data combined with the central bank's continued gold purchases led to a strong rebound in international gold prices, which surged over 7% last week, marking the largest weekly increase of the year. The total number of non-farm jobs in the U.S. decreased by 23,000 in July, with the employment data for the previous two months revised down by 103,000, indicating a slowdown in overall hiring momentum. Following the data release, federal funds futures further lowered the pricing for interest rate hike expectations for the year. Additionally, the People's Bank of China continued to accelerate gold purchases in July, increasing by 19.91 tons month-on-month, marking the 21st consecutive month of increasing gold reserves.

Pork-related concepts saw widespread gains today. As of the close, Decon Agricultural (02419) rose 5.39% to HKD 53.75; Muyuan Foods (02714) rose 5.18% to HKD 33.7; COFCO Joycome (01610) rose 4.61% to HKD 1.135.

The National Bureau of Statistics recently released the latest CPI data. Among them, the comprehensive adjustment policy effects on pig production capacity have emerged, coupled with extreme weather factors such as high temperatures and heavy rainfall in some regions pushing up transportation costs, leading to a rise in pork prices from a 0.8% decrease last month to a 4.1% increase. Guotou Securities believes that considering the cooling temperatures in autumn, the start of school, and stocking up for the double festivals, pork consumption may still have upward momentum in the next 1-2 months.

The film concept performed brightly. As of the close, Maoyan Entertainment (01896) rose 10.31% to HKD 4.92; Damai Entertainment (01060) rose 6.54% to HKD 0.57.

Just past the weekend, the new film "Welcome to Dragon Restaurant," starring Shen Teng, has received increasingly positive reviews and will be released nationwide on August 11. As of August 9, the film's preview and pre-sale box office has exceeded 100 million It is worth noting that data from online platforms shows that the box office for the summer 2026 film season has exceeded 8.5 billion yuan, with the annual box office surpassing 24.2 billion yuan. Kaiyuan Securities pointed out that "Dragon Restaurant" and "Odyssey" have been performing well in previews, highlighting the focus on summer entertainment consumption.

Popular Stocks with Significant Movements

Guotai Junan International (01788) resumed trading with a significant increase. As of the close, it rose by 36.78%, closing at HKD 2.845.

On August 7, Guotai Junan International announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Guotai Haitong Financial Holdings would acquire all ordinary shares of Guotai Junan International, except for those held by Guotai Haitong Financial Holdings, at a price of HKD 3 per share through a "contractual arrangement" to achieve the privatization and delisting of Guotai Junan International.

Peijia Medical-B (09996) remained strong throughout the day. As of the close, it rose by 19.3%, closing at HKD 5.13.

Peijia Medical announced that its revenue in the first half of the year increased by 17.4% year-on-year to 231 million yuan, mainly due to the continuous expansion of its transcatheter valve therapy business, driven by the successful commercialization of new indication products; the neurointervention business continued to grow under the penetration of self-developed products and strategic cooperation.

Power Development (01277) issued a positive profit alert. As of the close, it rose by 9.21%, closing at HKD 2.075.

Power Development expects its net profit after tax for the first half of 2026 to be approximately 730 million to 780 million yuan, an increase of 31% to 40% year-on-year. This is mainly due to the rebound in market coal prices, which led to an average selling price of coal products increasing by about 18% year-on-year; continuous implementation of efficient financial control measures resulted in a year-on-year decrease in unit costs of 9% to 12%.

Zhongji Xuchuang (03308) fell again. As of the close, it dropped by 6.94%, closing at HKD 103.3.

The management of the American optical communication manufacturer disclosed aggressive expansion plans during a conference call: the goal for this year is to triple monthly production capacity, with total manufacturing capacity in the second quarter approaching 200,000 units per month, and by the end of this year, the monthly production capacity for 800G and 1.6T products is expected to reach about 650,000 units, with capacity expected to increase more than tenfold next year