Hong Kong stocks fall as AI bubble fears grow amid Wall Street retreat
Blue chips Baidu, Meituan and Alibaba lead Hang Seng Index lower
The Hang Seng Index closed 0.5 per cent lower at 26,829.46. The Hang Seng Tech Index lost 0.6 per cent. Stock exchanges on the mainland are closed for a week-long public holiday and will reopen on Thursday.
Search-engine leader Baidu slumped 3 per cent to HK$135, while food-delivery service provider Meituan declined 1.8 per cent to HK$103.70. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding dropped 1.6 per cent to HK$177.60, while peer JD.com slipped 1.2 per cent to HK$135.60. Electric-vehicle maker Li Auto fell 0.8 per cent to HK$95.50 and blind-box toymaker Pop Mart International lost 0.6 per cent to HK$254.80. Short-video platform Kuaishou Technology slipped 2.2 per cent to HK$85.75.
Limiting losses, carmaker BYD advanced 1.5 per cent to HK$109.70 and peer Geely Automobile Holdings gained 3.4 per cent to HK$19.67, while digital health services provider JD Health International added 3.1 per cent to HK$66.75 and property developer Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 1.2 per cent to HK$94.35.
Overnight, the S&P 500 Index lost 0.4 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.7 per cent as investors feared that the AI euphoria had driven valuations to excessive levels, fuelling bubble concerns.
Investor enthusiasm for AI, which has fuelled Wall Street’s march to record highs, waned after media outlets reported that Oracle’s Nvidia-backed cloud services had delivered only slim margins over the past year.