Hang Seng Slips, Tech a Weigh
Hong Kong stocks opened lower on Wednesday morning. The main index fell around 110 points, or 0.4%, to 26,720, recovering from a slight gain in the previous session.
This decline occurred after Wall Street was dragged down by a sell-off in technology stocks overnight, dampening risk appetite in Asia. The Hong Kong market also moved further away from the 4.5-year high reached last week, primarily due to pressure in the technology and consumer discretionary sectors.
Data-wise, retail sales rose for the sixth consecutive month in December, closing 2025 with signs of sustained consumption. However, the positive data was not strong enough to counter the dominant selling pressure on the technology board.
The decline was also partially offset by strengthening stocks in mainland China, after private monitoring showed the fastest growth in the services sector in three months ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday season. In Hong Kong itself, private sector activity also grew for a sixth consecutive month in January, supported by new orders and overseas demand.
Among the stocks that lagged behind, Minimax Group plunged 7.3%, followed by Trip.com (down 4.4%), Xiaomi (down 2.3%), and SMIC (down 2.2%). Conversely, CK Hutchison rose 1.7% amid news of the Panama arbitration proceedings, after the country's supreme court annulled the operating contracts of two ports previously managed by the Hong Kong-based company. (asd)
Source: Newsmaker.id
