The Zhitong Finance App learned that Hong Kong stocks opened high and moved low again today, and have been falling for five consecutive days. The decline of the three major indices widened further in the afternoon, and all fell more than 1% at one point. At the close, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.92% or 176.6 points to 19064.29 points, with a full-day turnover of HK$144.698 billion; the Hang Seng State-owned Enterprises Index fell 1.16% to 6898.15 points; and the Hang Seng Technology Index fell 1.18% to 4260.82 points. Looking at the whole week, the Hang Seng Index fell 3.52%, the China Index fell 3.65%, and the Hengke Index fell 3.23%.

According to Cathay Pacific Junan Research, domestic policies are expected to continue to gain strength in 2025, and Hong Kong stock profits will continue to improve slightly. The likely arrival of Trump's tariffs will add some uncertainty to the domestic economic outlook. However, domestic policy tools are still sufficient to effectively prevent and mitigate risks. Furthermore, as overseas central banks continue to cut interest rates in 2025, the pressure on interest spreads at home and abroad narrows, and domestic policy space is further expanded, and relevant supporting policies are expected to continue to be introduced, which can effectively hedge against external pressure. Taken together, the profit side of Hong Kong stocks will continue to improve slightly in 2025.

Blue-chip stock performance

Zijin Mining (02899) rose slightly. At the close, it rose 3.13% to HK$15.14, with a turnover of HK$0.797 billion, contributing 4.1 points to the Hang Seng Index. Zijin Mining announced that discussions are ongoing with Zangge Venture Capital, the largest shareholder of Zangge Mining, and its co-operator and second-largest shareholder, Xinsha Hongyun Investment in the Ningbo Meishan Bonded Port Area. The potential acquisition may involve a change in control of Zangge Mining. The acquisition is pending approval by the board of directors and the formal signing of the acquisition agreement.

In terms of other blue-chip stocks, SMIC (00981) rose 2.86% to HK$32.35, contributing 5.78 points to the Hang Seng Index; Pharmaceutical Biotech (02269) rose 1.65% to HK$17.2, contributing 1.62 points to the Hang Seng Index; Mengniu Dairy (02319) fell 4.61% to HK$15.3, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 3.73 points; and Haidilao (06862) fell 4.4% to HK$13.92, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 1.94 points.

Popular sector aspects

On the market, large technology stocks generally turned green, with Ali and Tencent falling more than 1%. Autonomous control is expected to continue to accelerate, and semiconductor stocks will rise again; safe-haven demand has driven up gold prices, most gold stocks have risen, and Lingbao Gold has soared more than 20%. On the other side, news that Tencent cut its holdings of the two companies attracted market attention. Tencent's concept stocks all fell sharply today; Sunac China was petitioned for liquidation. At one point, the stock price fell nearly 29%, and other domestic housing stocks fell one after another; insurance companies will adjust their scheduled interest rates again, and the trend of domestic insurance stocks is sluggish; catering stocks, dairy products stocks, and photovoltaic stocks have declined.

1. Gold stocks generally rose today. At the close, Lingbao Gold (03330) rose 20.11% to HK$4.18; China Gold International (02099) rose 4.76% to HK$47.3; Zijin Mining (02899) rose 3.13% to HK$15.14; and Shandong Gold (01787) rose 1.02% to HK$13.82.

US President-elect Trump's territorial expansion rhetoric has triggered safe-haven demand for geopolitical risks, compounded by the central bank's intensification of gold purchases to boost market sentiment. Spot gold has been rising for three consecutive days and is currently trading above 2,670 US dollars. Currently, the market is focusing on the US non-farm payrolls data for December last year, which will be released tonight. CITIC Securities is optimistic about the 2025 gold price. The bank pointed out that the money buying behavior of central banks around the world is expected to continue, and the effects of the central bank's announcement of gold purchases may be even more obvious. The global market's enthusiasm for gold investment is likely to continue. Geographical conflicts in the Middle East, Russia, and Ukraine in 2025 are likely to be more unstable, which will help the price of gold to rise.

2. Semiconductor stocks rose again. At the close, Hongguang Semiconductor (06908) rose 12.96% to HK$0.61; SMIC (00981) rose 2.86% to HK$32.35; and Huahong Semiconductor (01347) rose 1.46% to HK$20.85.

According to reports, the US Biden administration plans to implement a new round of restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips from Nvidia and other companies before leaving office. People familiar with the matter said that the new rules will set a three-tier limit on chip transactions and will probably be released as soon as Friday. CDB Securities believes that semiconductors continue to strengthen and accelerate the localization process in important fields of technology competition. The game surrounding the field of science and technology may intensify in the future, and the need to achieve self-reliance on a high level of technology is particularly urgent.

Tianfeng Securities believes that subsidies for the purchase of new products such as mobile phones may boost demand for semiconductors. It is expected that more regions across the country will include mobile phones and other products in the scope of subsidies later. In the context of AI improving the user experience of new products, it is expected that new purchase subsidies or speed up consumer switching, and AI terminals that are accepted as a priority will become a new popular semiconductor application. It is recommended to pay attention to the increase in demand for chips related to mobile phones/tablet/smartwatch bracelets.

3. Domestic housing stocks fell across the board. At the close, Sunac China (01918) fell 25.71% to HK$1.3; Rongxin China (03301) fell 13.21% to HK$0.243; Shimao Group (00813) fell 9.47% to HK$0.86; and R&F Real Estate (02777) fell 8.66% to HK$1.16.

Sunac China issued an announcement at noon today confirming that the company has received a winding-up petition from China Cinda (Hong Kong) Asset Management Co., Ltd. against the company in Hong Kong, China. The hearing is scheduled to be held on March 19, 2025. The company is considering the impact and will publish a separate announcement in due course in accordance with the listing rules. According to Ping An Securities, the volume and price of the property market will continue to be adjusted in 2024, and national investment and sales will still be under pressure in 2025. Tianfeng Securities said that looking ahead to January, when seasonal factors are compounded by the Spring Festival holiday, housing companies' sales are likely to decline month-on-month, but considering that there is still room in market heat, there is still a possibility that it will remain flat year over year, so there is no need to be overly pessimistic about fundamentals in the short term.

4. Domestic insurance stocks generally declined. At the close, Xinhua Insurance (01336) fell 4.73% to HK$21.15; China Life (02628) fell 4.38% to HK$13.1; and China Taibao (02601) fell 3.96% to HK$21.85.

Recently, there are rumors in the market that insurers are studying to adjust the scheduled interest rate again at the end of March. According to reports, after the upper limit of the predetermined interest rate for personal insurance products was lowered from 3.5% to 3.0% in 2023, it was lowered again in '24. Since October '24, the maximum interest rate limit for personal insurance has officially entered the “2.0 era.” Donghai Securities pointed out that last week's sector pullback was mainly due to market concerns about double pressure on investment-side shares and bonds. The bank believes that the sector correction has fully released the capital market's adjustment expectations, that upward flexibility is expected to accelerate, and that attention should be paid to allocation opportunities under low valuations.

Popular exotic stocks

1. Jiantao Laminate (01888) continued its upward trend. At the close, it was up 7.58% to HK$7.66.

Tech giants are setting off a wave of data center construction. Among them, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Amazon cloud computing division, plans to invest at least $11 billion in Georgia to expand its infrastructure and support various cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies. Meanwhile, Microsoft previously stated that the AI data center will spend 80 billion US dollars in fiscal year 2025. Driven by this trend, the PCB industry's boom is expected to continue to rise.

2. Giant creatures (02367) rose significantly. At the close, it was up 6.69% to HK$49.45.

According to the Damo Research Report, Giants Biotech's stock price is expected to increase by about 70% to 80% in the next 15 days, and the target price is set at HK$65, giving it an “increase in weight” rating. The bank expects the company's profit growth in the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years to be 37% and 23%, respectively. The upcoming full-year results may be stronger than other companies covered by the bank.

3. Evergrande Property (06666) picked up in the afternoon. At the close, it was up 5.97% to HK$0.71.

According to news from the market, CEG Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Evergrande, was liquidated by the Hong Kong court. CEG Holdings holds nearly half of Evergrande Property's shares, which means that Evergrande's liquidators will be able to further obtain Evergrande's assets. Evergrande Property pulled over 37% in the afternoon.

4. Jiuxing Holdings (01836) reached a new high. At the close, it was up 3.49% to HK$17.22.

Jiuxing Holdings announced that in the three months ended the end of December last year, the group's consolidated revenue decreased by about 1.1% to about 0.385 billion US dollars. For the full year ended December 31 of last year, the cumulative consolidated revenue increased by about 3.5% year on year to about 1.545 billion US dollars.

Initial listing of IPOs

1. Bruco (00325) had a strong performance. At the close, it was up 40.85% to HK$85.

Priced at HK$60.35 per share, Bruker issued a total of 27.7383 million shares, 300 shares per lot, with a net proceeds of approximately HK$1.557 billion. According to public information, Bruker is a leader in building character toys in China. Through more than 500 patented layouts, original IP capabilities, and non-exclusive partnerships with about 50 well-known IPs, it has focused on providing consumers with a wide range of good and inexpensive character toy products and has achieved rapid growth. In 2023 and for the six months ended June 30, 2024, most of the company's revenue came from sales of Altman IP-based products, accounting for 63.5% and 57.4% of revenue, respectively.

2. Newmans (02530) fell sharply. At the close, it was down 13.75% to HK$0.69.

Newmans is priced at HK$0.8 per share. A total of 0.25 billion shares were issued, with a net proceeds of HK$0.121 billion per lot. According to reports, Newmans is mainly engaged in marketing, sales and distribution of finished nutritional products in China, and is sold under the exclusive brands “Newmans” and “Nemans” (English Nemans). The products can be broadly divided into five categories, namely algae oil DHA, probiotics, vitamins, multi-dimensional nutrients and algae calcium products. In addition, since FY2022, the company has also earned a small amount of revenue by selling five milk powder products licensed by Ausu Group.