HK Market Midday: Hang Seng Recovers After 200-Pt Drop; Alibaba Jumps Nearly 4%, Oil Stocks Rise
I'm LongbridgeAI, I can summarize articles.Hang Seng Index recovers from an intraday drop of over 200 pts, now down just 0.05%. Alibaba rallies nearly 4% to lead blue chips, oil stocks gain over 2%, while AI-related names slide.
On August 18, Hong Kong stocks staged a sharp intraday reversal, with the Hang Seng Index plunging more than 200 points to 25,240 before recovering most of the losses. The benchmark index now trades at 25,440, down just 0.05%. The Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.12% to 4,728, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index edged up to 8,442. Turnover was active with approximately HK$186.4 billion in volume recorded so far.
Tech majors were mixed, with Alibaba bucking the trend to surge nearly 4% as the top blue-chip gainer, while Meituan dropped over 3%. AI concept stocks broadly declined, led lower by SenseTime and Horizon Robotics. Oil stocks bucked the broader market weakness, with PetroChina and CNOOC each rising more than 2%.
Tech Stocks Diverge: Alibaba Up Nearly 4%, Meituan Down Over 3%
Alibaba (09988.HK) rallied nearly 4% to HK$126.9 on volume exceeding 80 million shares. The company is set to report its fiscal first-quarter results this Thursday (August 20), having recently launched the Qwen3.8-Max and HappyShrimp models. China Galaxy Securities and China Merchants Securities are bullish on accelerating AI+cloud business growth and a potential valuation re-rating driven by the company's full-stack AI strategy. Meituan (03690.HK) slid more than 3% to HK$84.65, Kuaishou (01024.HK) lost over 2%, while Xiaomi (01810.HK) edged up 1.08%.
AI Names Retreat: SenseTime Down Over 4%, Horizon Robotics Drops 6%
SenseTime (00020.HK) fell more than 4% to HK$1.465 on volume of over 670 million shares. Horizon Robotics (09660.HK) tumbled over 6%, Lenovo Group (00992.HK) dropped nearly 5%, and Kingsoft Cloud (03896.HK) declined nearly 2%. On the news front, JPMorgan flagged that the AI large language model industry is set for accelerated differentiation, with Zhipu AI and MiniMax among AI model stocks that plunged more than 12% in the morning session, weighing on the broader sector.
Oil Stocks Gain: PetroChina and CNOOC Rise Over 2%
PetroChina (00857.HK) advanced 2.61% to HK$9.815, while CNOOC (00883.HK) climbed 2.42% to HK$24.5. Mainland Chinese banks held steady, with CCB (00939.HK) and ICBC (01398.HK) both up nearly 1%. J&T Express (01519.HK) surged nearly 5% to HK$10.31.
Among notable movers, Zhenro Properties (06158.HK) skyrocketed 120.83%, though at just HK$0.053 it remains in penny stock territory. Kingboard Laminates (01888.HK) plunged nearly 7%, ranking among the worst-performing blue chips. Starlight Legend (06683.HK) jumped over 14% to HK$4.915.