Hong Kong stocks resume decline as tech giants stumble on AI bubble jitters
The Hang Seng Index fell 0.5 per cent to 25,344.03 at 11.23am local time, hovering around a three-week low. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 1.3 per cent.
On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index slid 0.6 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.1 per cent.
Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle maker, tumbled 2.8 per cent to HK$40.06 and search engine operator Baidu sank 1.1 per cent to HK$117.30. Alibaba Group Holding lost 1.3 per cent to HK$144.10 and Tencent Holdings slipped 0.4 per cent to HK$602.50. Pop Mart International Group, maker of blockbuster plush toy Labubu, shed 2.6 per cent to HK$190.70 on concerns about its profitability.
The pullback mirrored the overnight rout in US equities, with the Nasdaq 100 losing almost 2 per cent. With stock valuations at lofty levels, even slightly negative news headlines could sour sentiment. Oracle, a proxy for AI infrastructure investments, tumbled more than 5 per cent after a long-time partner reportedly would not finance a US$10 billion data centre.
The episode added to concerns about the scale of AI spending by US tech companies and whether these outsize investments can generate the returns investors expect.
