Hong Kong stock market closing (07.15) | Hang Seng Index rose by 1.6% AI concept stocks performed strongly Alibaba-W surged nearly 7%

According to Zhitong Finance APP, Hong Kong stocks surged in the early session before retreating, and in the afternoon staged a "V"-shaped reversal, with both the Hang Seng Index and the National Index turning up over 1%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index soaring nearly 3%. By the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 1.6% or 386.8 points, closing at 24,590.12 points, with a total turnover of HKD 288.4 billion; the Hang Seng National Enterprises Index rose 1.65%, closing at 8,877.1 points; the Hang Seng Technology Index rose 2.8%, closing at 5,431.29 points.

China Galaxy Securities pointed out that in the global equity market, Hong Kong stocks are at a relatively low absolute valuation level, with valuation percentiles at a historically mid-to-high level, indicating that the medium to long-term allocation value remains high. CITIC Securities stated that the current valuation depression characteristics of Hong Kong stocks have re-emerged, and under significant allocation pressure, the expansion of investment scope for insurance funds is a trend, with southbound funds expected to warm up again.

Blue Chip Performance

Alibaba-W (09988) performed well. By the close, it rose 6.97%, closing at HKD 113.5, with a turnover of HKD 21.652 billion, contributing 122.21 points to the Hang Seng Index. Guosen Securities released a research report on Alibaba, forecasting a 2% year-on-year revenue growth for 1QFY26, with an adjusted EBITA profit margin of 16%, mainly affected by flash purchase investments. The GMV of Taotian Group is expected to grow by 6% year-on-year, with CMR expected to grow by 11%, but profits are expected to remain flat year-on-year due to promotional investments. The cloud business is expected to see a 22% year-on-year revenue growth, driven by increased AI demand, with profit margins remaining stable.

In other blue chip stocks, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (01093) rose 7.51%, closing at HKD 8.59, contributing 7.63 points to the Hang Seng Index; China Biologic Products (01177) rose 4.94%, closing at HKD 6.37, contributing 4.9 points to the Hang Seng Index; Xinyi Glass (00868) fell 4.43%, closing at HKD 8.2, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 1.29 points; Xinyi Solar (00968) fell 2.98%, closing at HKD 2.93, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 0.65 points.

Popular Sectors

On the market, large technology stocks all strengthened, with Alibaba soaring nearly 7%, Kuaishou, Meituan, and Baidu all rising over 4%, while Tencent rose over 3%. With the lifting of the H20 ban on NVIDIA, AI concepts performed strongly today, with Kingsoft Cloud rising nearly 17%; the enthusiasm for innovative drugs continued, with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group rising over 7%; Apple concepts, automotive stocks, and others generally showed gains. On the other hand, domestic property stocks fell across the board in the morning, with afternoon declines narrowing, and Midea Real Estate once soaring 60%; photovoltaic stocks, cement stocks, coal stocks, chip stocks, and others all softened.

1. AI concept stocks performed strongly. By the close, Kingsoft Cloud (03896) rose 16.81%, closing at HKD 7.92; GDS Holdings Limited-SW (09698) rose 12.19%, closing at HKD 38.65; Meituan (02556) rose 10.6%, closing at HKD 52.7; Alibaba-W (09988) rose 6.97%, closing at HKD 113.5.

On July 15, Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, revealed that the U.S. has approved the sale of H20 chips to China. He also stated that NVIDIA will launch the RTXpro GPU, a new graphics card designed for computer graphics, digital twins, and artificial intelligence. Minsheng Securities pointed out that a new round of global AI "arms race" has begun, with the release of heavyweight models such as Grok4 and Kimi K2 expected to significantly catalyze domestic computing power demand and application ecology Optimistic about the development of domestic computing power and AI applications.

Guotai Junan Securities previously pointed out that under the accelerating wave of AI applications, Hong Kong stock technology may bravely stand at the forefront. Firstly, Hong Kong stock technology companies have strong competitiveness in the AI field and may fully benefit from the AI industry dividend. Secondly, leading internet companies in Hong Kong are experiencing strong growth in capital expenditure and cloud business revenue, with future commercialization applications expected to accelerate. Supported by fundamentals and capital, undervalued Hong Kong internet stocks still have potential for valuation uplift.

2. Innovative drugs rise again. As of the close, BeiGene (06160) rose 7.8% to HKD 164.4; CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (01093) rose 7.51% to HKD 8.59; Innovent Biologics (09969) rose 6.46% to HKD 17.46; China Biologic Products Holdings (01177) rose 4.94% to HKD 6.37.

Guojin Securities pointed out that the innovative drug performance in the pharmaceutical sector remains strong, while also spreading upstream in the industrial chain. Essentially, innovative drugs maintain high prosperity, driven by improved biotech investment and financing and domestic innovative drug policy support, leading to an increase in demand expectations for pharmaceutical companies' preclinical research. On the other hand, the semi-annual performance pre-increase announcement disclosed by WuXi AppTec exceeded expectations, serving as a catalyst. The firm believes that innovative drugs remain the main investment line, and in the context of global MNCs facing patent cliffs and actively seeking BD cooperation for potential blockbuster innovative drugs, investment opportunities in innovative drug sectors focusing on broad cancer types and slow disease drug pipelines that address unmet clinical needs should be emphasized. Attention should also be paid to potential performance exceeding expectations in the semi-annual reports of the innovative drug industrial chain.

3. Photovoltaic stocks fell across the board. As of the close, LONGi Green Energy (01108) fell 4.9% to HKD 4.85; Xinyi Solar (00968) fell 2.98% to HKD 2.93; Flat Glass Group (06865) fell 2.9% to HKD 10.04; New Energy (01799) fell 2.38% to HKD 6.55.

Recently, interim performance forecasts have been released, with many companies in the photovoltaic industry mentioning in their forecasts that there is an imbalance in supply and demand across various links in the industrial chain, and inventory pressure is leading to a decline in product prices, affecting operating performance. Reports indicate that among the listed companies in the photovoltaic sector, several, including Tongwei Co., Ltd., are expected to incur losses exceeding 2 billion yuan in the first half of the year. CITIC Futures believes that the current market has high expectations for the photovoltaic industry's supply-side anti-involution, but the ability to sustain demand remains to be tested, and this round of anti-involution may be difficult to replicate the effects of the previous supply-side reform. Additionally, reports indicate that the U.S. Department of Commerce is investigating imports of drones and polysilicon.

4. Domestic property stocks narrowed their losses in the afternoon. As of the close, Agile Group (03383) fell 5.88% to HKD 0.48; Sunac China (01918) fell 4.02% to HKD 1.67; R&F Properties (02777) fell 3.57% to HKD 1.08; while Midea Real Estate (03990) rose 14.04% to HKD 4.63.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that from January to June, national real estate development investment was 466.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.2%; among them, residential investment was 357.70 billion yuan, down 10.4%. From January to June, the sales area of new commercial housing was 45.851 million square meters, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%; Among them, the residential sales area decreased by 3.7%. According to Xinhua News Agency, the Central Urban Work Conference was held in Beijing from July 14 to 15. The conference proposed to focus on building comfortable and convenient livable cities. It emphasized integrated planning of population, industry, urban areas, and transportation, optimizing urban spatial structure; accelerating the construction of a new model for real estate development, and steadily promoting the renovation of urban villages and dilapidated houses.

Popular Active Stocks

1. Yunfeng Financial (00376) surged significantly, closing up 19.53% at HKD 3.55.

On the evening of July 14, Yunfeng Financial announced that based on its existing insurance and fintech business, it will strategically layout in frontier fields such as Web 3.0, Real World Assets (RWA), digital currency, ESG zero-carbon assets, and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as explore innovative applications connecting these frontier fields with the group's insurance company.

2. Minmetals Resources (01208) issued a profit warning, closing up 4.99% at HKD 3.79.

Minmetals Resources issued a profit warning at noon, expecting that for the half-year ending June 30, 2025, the net profit attributable to equity holders after tax will be approximately USD 340 million, a year-on-year increase of about 15.19 times. The announcement stated that the expected performance in the first half of 2025 reflects increased production at the Las Bambas mine and a decrease in unit production costs, as well as a rise in commodity prices, including copper, gold, and silver, compared to the first half of 2024.

3. China Merchants Securities (06099) surged in early trading, closing up 4.34% at HKD 15.88.

China Merchants International announced that on July 14, it officially obtained approval from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, becoming the first Chinese bank-affiliated brokerage in Hong Kong to obtain licenses for virtual asset trading services and related activities. According to the information, China Merchants International is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Merchants Bank and serves as its flagship overseas investment banking platform, while China Merchants Securities and China Merchants Bank are both financial institutions under the central enterprise China Merchants Group.

4. Ganfeng Lithium (01772) faced pressure throughout the day, closing down 3.68% at HKD 24.9.

Ganfeng Lithium announced that it expects the net loss attributable to shareholders for the first half of the year to be in the range of RMB 300 million to 550 million, a decrease in net loss of approximately 27.67% to 60.55% compared to the same period last year. Morgan Stanley believes that the planned lithium production growth rate in mainland China in July continues to exceed demand growth. If there is no substantial production reduction in places like Yichun, Jiangxi, the recent price rebound may be difficult to sustain, and Ganfeng Lithium's profitability in the third quarter may still be under pressure