The three major Hong Kong stock indices opened lower and drifted down. As of the midday close, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.53% to 24,151.90, the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.91%, and the China Enterprises Index declined 0.66%.
On the board, internet stocks were mostly lower, with Alibaba falling over 3%, Baidu and Kuaishou dropping more than 2%, while NetEase gained over 1%; the semiconductor sector led the declines, with Montage Technology plunging over 6%; the application software sector weakened, with MINIMAX dropping more than 5%; innovative drug concept stocks tumbled, with GenScript Biotech slumping over 12%.
The semiconductor sector led the declines, with Montage Technology plunging over 6%. According to reports, Taiwan-based memory manufacturer Nanya Technology has recently notified customers that it will raise DRAM contract prices again, with increases of up to 20%. In other news, on the evening of September 28, ChangXin Technology disclosed plans to build a technology research and development project and a second-phase memory wafer back-end testing base, with investments of 24.1 billion yuan and 10.8 billion yuan respectively, totaling 34.9 billion yuan. The R&D project has a construction period of 30 months, while the second-phase back-end testing base has a construction period of 37 months.
The application software sector weakened, with MINIMAX dropping over 5%. According to reports, Moonshot AI has completed its latest round of private financing at a valuation of approximately $50 billion and plans to list in Hong Kong in the first quarter of next year. The company will hold early investor communication meetings as soon as this month to gauge investor interest and may raise up to $5 billion in the IPO. Separately, reports citing sources say AI startup Reflection, backed by NVIDIA (NVDA), is preparing to launch a powerful open-weight AI model to compete with Chinese AI companies such as DeepSeek and American AI giants.
Innovative drug concept stocks tumbled, with GenScript Biotech slumping over 12%. Overnight, the U.S. pharmaceutical sector plunged, dragging down the Hong Kong pharmaceutical sector which had performed well the previous day. On the news front, according to reports, a staff member at an anti-plague research institute in Russia's Irkutsk region in Siberia died, leading to nearly 200 contacts reportedly being placed under quarantine observation. Russian authorities have implemented quarantine measures at several hospitals in the region, but health officials have downplayed the severity of the situation. There is still no conclusive evidence confirming that the deceased laboratory employee was infected with pneumonic plague.