"Hong Kong Stocks" Hang Seng Index rises 116 points in half a day, Xiaomi and BYD lead the gains, SMIC shows weakness after earnings

In December last year, U.S. retail preliminary figures underperformed expectations, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.1% on hopes of interest rate cuts. The Hong Kong stock market rose in early trading. The Hang Seng Index opened 63 points higher and the gains expanded, reaching a peak of 142 points at 27,325 points, closing up 116 points or 0.4% at 27,299 points; the National Index rose 38 points or 0.4% to 9,281 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 59 points or 1.1% to 5,510 points. The total turnover of the market for the half day was HKD 118.607 billion.

MSCI announced changes to the China Index, with SenseTime (00020.HK) and Pony.ai (02026.HK) rising 2.9% and 2.3%, respectively, while Hesai (02525.HK) rose 6.9%. Longi Green Energy (06869.HK) saw its stock price retract by 3.9%.

SMIC (00981.HK) reported a 60.7% year-on-year increase in net profit for the last quarter, but Credit Lyonnais indicated that the company's gross margin guidance for the first quarter of this year slightly missed market expectations, leading to a 3.6% drop in stock price. China Literature (00772.HK) expects its IFRS loss for last year to expand to at least RMB 750 million, with its stock price falling 7.1%. In other tech stocks, Tencent (00700.HK) fell 0.5% to HKD 548, Meituan (03690.HK) rebounded 0.3% to HKD 89.1, while JD.com (09618.HK), Alibaba (09988.HK), NetEase (09999.HK), Kuaishou (01024.HK), and Baidu (09888.HK) rose between 0.6% and 1.2%. Kingsoft Cloud (03896.HK) rose 7.1%, Tencent Music (01698.HK), NetEase Cloud Music (09899.HK), and Bilibili (09626.HK) rose between 4.7% and 5%, and New Oriental (09901.HK) rose 3.3%. Chip stock Hua Hong (01347.HK) retracted 1.9%, while chip equipment stock ASMPT (00522.HK) rose 6%.

Automobile stocks led the gains, with Xiaomi (01810.HK) founder Lei Jun stating that President Xi Jinping's inspection of the science and technology innovation work sends a clear signal of the country's acceleration in leading new productive forces through technological innovation, resulting in a 4.7% rise in Xiaomi's stock price to HKD 37.26. Nio (09866.HK) aims to achieve full-year profitability on a Non-GAAP basis this year, with its stock price rising 2.6%. BYD (01211.HK) rose 3.9% to HKD 99.5, while Geely (00175.HK), Li Auto (02015.HK), Leapmotor (09863.HK), and XPeng (09868.HK) rose between 2.4% and 3.2%. Automotive parts stock Hongteng (06088.HK) rose 5.1%, and lithium stocks Ganfeng (01772.HK) rose 3.7% In the financial sector, HSBC (00005.HK) fell 0.4%, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388.HK) and AIA (01299.HK) rose 0.2% and 0.3%. Standard Chartered (02888.HK) dropped 0.3% to HKD 197.5. Link REIT (00823.HK) increased by 3.2%.

Gold and silver stocks rose, with China Silver (00815.HK) and Zijin Mining (02899.HK) up 3.2% and 3.5%, Shandong Gold (01787.HK) and China Gold International (02099.HK) rising 5.4%, and Lingbao Gold (03330.HK) and Zijin Gold International (02259.HK) increasing by 7.2% and 9.2%. Gold jewelry stock Lao Pu Gold (06181.HK) rose 3.1%.

In other stocks, HKT (00008.HK) narrowed its annual loss to HKD 253 million, maintaining a final dividend of 28.48 cents, with its stock price down 0.2%. Television Broadcasts (00511.HK) is expected to turn a profit of over HKD 50 million last year, with EBITDA increasing by 18.6% year-on-year, and its stock price rose 8.8%. Movie stocks, including DaMai Entertainment (01060.HK) and Maoyan (01896.HK), retreated by 5.8% and 4.7%, while retail stock Pop Mart (09992.HK) fell 3.5%, and duty-free store China Duty Free Group (01880.HK) rose 4.2%