Hong Kong stocks closed mixed. The Hang Seng Index fell 0.1%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.9%.

In terms of star stocks, Xiaomi rose 4.5%; XPeng rose 4%; JD.com rose 3.5%; Li Auto rose 3%; Baidu, BYD, Kuaishou rose 2%; Tencnet rose 0.2%; Alibaba fell 1%.

The rally in tech stocks kicked off on Wednesday after Alibaba unveiled plans to scale up investments in artificial intelligence and received a vote of confidence from prominent US investor Cathie Wood.

“Tech stocks are likely to continue to rally as investors remain enthusiastic about the continued development of new language models beyond DeepSeek, the potential for semiconductor manufacturing in China and AI-related benefits such as cost savings,” said Kai Wang, a market strategist at Morningstar. “Given that many hyperscalers including Alibaba are likely to expand their [capital expenditures], the momentum should continue until there appears to be diminishing returns.”

A rally in China’s domestic stock markets had shifted some funds away from the Hong Kong market, said Kenny Ng Lai-yin, a strategist at Everbright Securities International. However, as the mainland approaches a week-long national holiday, some funds may flow back to Hong Kong, which “could support steady growth for Hong Kong stocks”, he added.