Market Snapshot | Hong Kong stocks remained sluggish throughout the day, with the Technology Index falling by 1.74%; tech and internet stocks, as well as non-ferrous metal stocks, declined. Alibaba dropped nearly 3%, and Zijin Mining fell over 4%. Guoxia

According to Futu News on December 16, Hong Kong’s three major indices all declined,$Hang Seng Index (800000.HK)$fell by 1.54%,$Hang Seng TECH Index (800700.HK)$fell by 1.74%,$Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (800100.HK)$fell by 1.79%.

By the close of trading, 526 Hong Kong-listed stocks had risen, 1,699 had fallen, and 1,008 remained unchanged.

The performance by specific industries is shown in the figure below:

In terms of sectors, tech stocks performed poorly: SenseTime-W fell by 6.10%, Alibaba-W dropped by 2.96%, JD.com-SW decreased by 2.29%, Xiaomi Group-W declined by 2.25%, Baidu Group-SW fell by 1.77%, Meituan-W dropped by 1.39%, Tencent Holdings decreased by 1.08%, and Kuaishou-W fell by 0.54%. During midday, a message regarding “tax-related issues affecting certain high-tech companies” circulated among securities analysts.

Gold stocks generally declined: Tongguan Gold fell by 6.92%, Zijin Gold International dropped by 6.00%, Chifeng Gold decreased by 5.67%, Zijin Mining fell by 4.41%, Lingbao Gold declined by 3.94%, Zhaojin Mining dropped by 3.81%, China Gold International fell by 3.56%, and Shandong Gold decreased by 3.43%.

Non-ferrous metal stocks trended lower: Zijin Mining fell by 4.41%, Zhaojin Mining dropped by 3.81%, Shandong Gold decreased by 3.43%, China Hongqiao declined by 2.82%, Chalco fell by 2.54%, Jiangxi Copper Corporation dropped by 2.25%, Ganfeng Lithium decreased by 2.13%, and Luoyang Molybdenum fell by 1.26%.

Lithium battery stocks saw declines across multiple names: CALB fell by 4.96%, Tianneng Power dropped by 2.88%, Zhengli Energy decreased by 2.72%, CATL fell by 2.50%, BYD Electronics declined by 2.26%, Ganfeng Lithium dropped by 2.13%, BYD Co. Ltd. decreased by 1.51%, and Tianqi Lithium fell by 0.55%.

Shipping and port stocks experienced declines across several names: Pacific Basin Shipping fell by 3.81%, COSCO Energy Shipping dropped by 3.50%, COSCO SHP SG Ports decreased by 2.86%, China Merchants Port Holdings fell by 2.70%, SITC International declined by 2.54%, CSSC Shipping dropped by 2.37%, Orient Overseas International decreased by 2.00%, and COSCO Shipping Holdings fell by 1.62%.

Construction materials stocks trended lower: Dongwu Cement fell by 3.15%, BBMG dropped by 2.63%, CR Cement Technology decreased by 2.53%, Anhui Conch Cement fell by 2.52%, China Lesso Group declined by 2.15%, Western Cement dropped by 2.01%, China National Building Materials decreased by 1.26%, and Huajian Construction Materials fell by 0.23%.

Mainland property stocks experienced a short-term rebound in the afternoon, but most closed lower. Vanke rose nearly 3%, Agile Group rose nearly 2%, while Longfor Group and China Resources Land fell more than 2%.

In terms of individual stocks,$JOINN (06127.HK)$Retracting nearly 6%, yet still up more than 20% for the month, fair value gains from monkey-related assets are expected to increase significantly.

$CGN MINING (01164.HK)$Dropping nearly 5% in the afternoon, following Elon Musk’s skepticism about nuclear fusion power generation, and Kazakhstan’s new policies may affect valuations.

$HUSCOKE HLDGS (00704.HK)$Surging nearly 64% intraday, the Listing Committee stated that the company is unsuitable for listing, and the stock may be suspended this Friday.

$XIANGXING INT (01732.HK)$Rising over 11% in the final trading session, preliminary conditions for a partial tender offer have been met; Westwell Technologies focuses on driverless commercial vehicles.

$CONTIOCEAN (02613.HK)$Surging nearly 7% intraday, the company plans to acquire vessels worth HKD 2.24 billion to establish a maritime R&D platform.

$TIMES CHINA (01233.HK)$Up nearly 5%, received a court order from the Hong Kong High Court to dismiss the winding-up petition.

$XPENG-W (09868.HK)$In the afternoon trading session, Hong Kong stocks slightly rebounded and are currently down nearly 2%, after having fallen about 5% earlier. U.S. stocks are currently up over 1% in overnight trading. In news, reports indicate that XPeng Motors has obtained an L3 autonomous driving road test license.

newly listed stocks$GUOXIA TECH (02655.HK)$Continued to surge in the afternoon, now up nearly 118%, with a turnover of HKD 354 million. The company is a leading player in AI-powered internet energy storage and the first stock in AI robotics safety.

Top 10 in today’s trading volume

Hong Kong Stock Connect funds

Regarding the Stock Connect, today’s southbound trading under the Hong Kong Stock Connect recorded a net inflow of HKD 81.9 million.

Institutional Views

Fitch Ratings maintains a neutral outlook for the Asia-Pacific insurance sector in 2026, reflecting strong performance and robust solvency buffers across most markets. Fitch expects operating margins to stabilize as competitive conditions improve, despite regulatory changes, slowing growth, and market volatility.

CICC issued a research report stating that it continues to be optimistic about$China Mainland Banks (LIST1239.HK)$absolute and relative return performance. It forecasts that the listed banks it covers will see revenue grow by 2.5% and 3.6% year-on-year in 2026 and 2027 respectively, while net profit attributable to shareholders will rise by 1.9% and 2.6% annually. This is due to the further easing of net interest margin pressures and improved quality in credit deployment amid weaker credit demand and insufficient risk compensation, resulting in more pronounced regional and sector-specific characteristics.

Moreover, after several years of fee reductions, profit concessions, and the digestion of high base pressures, the growth rate of commission income is expected to stabilize and rebound. Although exposures related to small and micro enterprises and retail customers remain the primary source of non-performing loan generation, corporate business exposures have remained stable, and the trend in net non-performing generation rates has even shown some improvement. The bank also anticipates that the acceleration of supply-side reform within the industry will lead to a rapid reduction in the number of banking licenses, thereby improving industry competition and the operating landscape.

Goldman Sachs issued a research report stating that it recently conducted$TENCENT (00700.HK)$business exchanges with management, noting that Tencent Cloud is actively expanding into key markets such as ASEAN, Northeast Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas, securing multiple large-scale project contracts. Together with its localized infrastructure, this is expected to enhance brand recognition in international markets.

The firm also highlighted that Tencent, as a beneficiary of AI applications within China’s internet sector, has integrated AI to empower long-term growth across all its core businesses. Goldman Sachs believes that Tencent, leveraging its unique WeChat ecosystem and global gaming assets alongside diversified monetization capabilities, is well-positioned to achieve compounded profit growth. The firm maintains its ‘Buy’ rating with an unchanged target price of HKD 770.

Editor/melody