U.S. markets continued their decline last Friday amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East and persistently high oil prices, raising concerns about stagflation. All three major U.S. indices closed significantly lower. The U.S. dollar strengthened, while the yield on the ten-year U.S. Treasury note rose to around 4.44%. Gold prices rebounded from recent lows, and oil prices remained firm.

Today, Hong Kong’s three major indices opened lower. The Hang Seng Index fell 1.68% at the open to 24,532.85 points, the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 2.78%, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index declined 1.81%. Across the market, technology and internet stocks broadly declined, with Baidu down over 4%, and Lenovo, Bilibili, and Alibaba each falling more than 3%. JD.com, Meituan, Xiaomi, and Kuaishou all dropped over 2%. In contrast, oil and gas equipment and service stocks opened higher, with Shandong Molong Petroleum Machinery Company Limited rising more than 7%. Aluminum stocks also opened stronger, with Aluminum Corporation of China up over 5%. Insurance stocks generally opened lower, with Prudential down more than 4%. Auto stocks weakened, with XPeng falling over 4%. Most innovative drug concept stocks declined, with Akeso down over 2%.