Hong Kong stocks retreat as Nvidia earnings fail to sustain AI momentum
Hang Seng Index drops 1.4 per cent, led by tech losses, after US chip giant’s results disappoint investors betting on perpetual AI growth
The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.4 per cent to 26,381.02 at the close on Thursday. The Hang Seng Tech Index slumped 2.9 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index slid 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed.
Alibaba Group Holding declined 3.2 per cent to HK$143.60 and Tencent Holdings fell 2 per cent to HK$512. Meituan lost 2.7 per cent to HK$80.45 and JD.com retreated 2.6 per cent to HK$104.
Revenue for Nvidia, at the centre of the global AI frenzy, beat the consensus estimate but fell short of the most bullish projections of more than US$80 billion, sending its shares lower in after-hours trading. The US chipmaker reported a 73 per cent jump in quarterly revenue to US$68.1 billion for the three months ended January. That compared with the consensus estimate of US$65.8 billion.
“The market is no longer pricing growth. It is pricing perpetuity,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management. “When a company becomes the physical backbone of an industrial revolution, expectations detach from gravity. Investors are not asking whether revenue is growing. They are asking whether this growth can compound at escape velocity indefinitely.”