Hong Kong stocks posted collective gains on the day, with clear divergence across sectors, as pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors outperformed while autos and semiconductors weakened. By the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 0.37% to 24,613.27 points, with daily turnover reaching HK$187.158 billion; the Hang Seng Tech Index edged up 0.1% to 4,253.89 points.

Among Hong Kong ETFs ranked by size, Tracker Fund of Hong Kong (02800) rose 0.48% to HK$25.26; CSOP Hang Seng Tech Index ETF (03033) gained 0.39% to HK$4.168; and CSOP SK Hynix Daily Leveraged 2x Product (07709) added 0.25% to HK$40.1.

Overseas tumor vaccine clinical data expectations lifted the mRNA sector, sending vaccine and innovative drug sectors higher collectively, with related ETFs leading the gains. By the close, Vaccine ETF Harvest (562860.SH) climbed 4.26% to RMB0.686; Vaccine ETF Fullgoal (159645.SZ) rose 3.93% to RMB0.634; Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Drug ETF Harvest (520970.SH) advanced 3.97% to RMB0.970; and Hong Kong Stock Connect Innovative Drug ETF GF (513120.SH) gained 3.81% to RMB1.390.

On the news front, U.S. vaccine concept stock Moderna announced that abstracts for three studies of an investigational personalized mRNA neoantigen therapy jointly developed with a multinational pharmaceutical company have been accepted for presentation at the 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress to be held in Madrid from October 23 to 27. The company's shares held above US$203 overnight, hitting a new 52-week high, with the overseas read-through quickly transmitting to A-share and Hong Kong biologics and vaccine sectors. On the policy side, the "15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development" was jointly issued by ten government departments, explicitly setting goals to strengthen industrial scale and efficiency as well as innovation development, laying a policy foundation for the pharmaceutical industry including vaccines. Bohai Securities noted that AI drug discovery catalysts have been intense recently, with industry focus gradually shifting to wet-lab validation efficiency, while the ESMO annual meeting will disclose multiple Chinese new drug clinical data, suggesting investors watch for potential catalytic opportunities in innovative drugs, CXO, and the life sciences upstream supply chain. CITIC Securities noted that the fundamentals of China's innovative drug industry are steadily improving in the second half of 2026, mainly driven by improved R&D quality, global value validation, and improved profitability, with Chinese innovative drugs gradually entering a "global registration plus commercialization realization" phase, as academic conferences including WCLC, ESMO, ACR, and ASH are held successively, with multiple registrational studies entering data readout windows that could jointly drive sector performance.

Overnight pressure on overseas semiconductor sectors, combined with a U.S. Treasury selloff that pushed up long-end yields, led to broad adjustments in semiconductor stocks, with related ETFs among the biggest decliners. By the close, STAR Market Chip ETF Harvest (588200.SH) fell 3.40% to RMB1.080; STAR Market Semiconductor ETF ChinaAMC (588170.SH) dropped 3.29% to RMB0.910. Overnight, U.S. semiconductor stocks suffered sharp losses that transmitted to A-shares, compounded by a Treasury selloff that pushed up long-end yields, creating headwinds for globally high-valued tech stocks; meanwhile, with the National Day holiday approaching, capital underwent sharp rebalancing between high-valuation growth tracks and low-valuation defensive sectors, sending the STAR 50 Index down 2.51% in a single day. Liu Gang, Chief Overseas and Hong Kong Strategy Analyst at CICC Research Department, noted that Hong Kong semiconductor earnings grew 335% year-on-year in the first half, ranking among the fastest, but high trading crowding dragged down scores on the odds dimension. CITIC Securities research believes that the electronics industry's overall performance will remain robust in the third quarter of 2026, and looking ahead to the fourth quarter and 2027, the electronics sector's investment主线 will continue to revolve around two directions: independent controllability and AI computing power.

Hang Seng Qianhai fund manager Xing Cheng said, "The Hong Kong stock market has recently been affected by overseas disturbances, with the Hang Seng Tech Index pulling back after recent high-level consolidation. In the short term, repeated overseas liquidity expectations and tech sector valuation fluctuations remain the main disturbances." Over the long term, as Hong Kong internet technology companies continue to invest in AI models and applications, and as the AI computing power, optical communications, and other hard tech industry chains see improving prosperity, this will provide some support for the index. Looking ahead, under the combined catalysts of improving liquidity expectations, earnings improvement, and enhanced valuation cost-effectiveness, the overall trend of the Hong Kong stock market is still expected to move higher.

N ChinaAMC STAR Growth ETF (589490.SH) debuted, closing down 2.17% at RMB0.947 with turnover of RMB10.5395 million; the fund tracks the SSE STAR Growth Index, covering STAR Market listed companies with high-growth characteristics, focusing on technological innovation and emerging industries. N Dividend Quality ETF China Universal (561650.SH) debuted, closing up 0.51% at RMB0.991 with turnover of RMB37.9773 million; the fund tracks the CSI All Share Dividend Quality Index, covering stocks across the market with both high dividend and high quality characteristics, skewing toward mature and stable companies. N Dividend Quality ETF Harvest (562200.SH) debuted, closing up 0.41% at RMB0.991 with turnover of RMB59.9371 million; the fund tracks the CSI All Share Dividend Quality Index, covering market-wide stocks with high dividend plus high quality characteristics. N Nonferrous Metals Industry ETF SPDB (515540.SH) debuted, closing down 0.1% at RMB1.002 with turnover of RMB96.3264 million; the fund tracks the CSI Industrial Nonferrous Metals Theme Index, covering listed companies related to industrial nonferrous metals such as copper, aluminum, lead-zinc, and other industrial metal sectors. ChiNext Computing Power ETF Fullgoal (158059.SZ) debuted, closing down 1.74% at RMB0.959 with turnover of RMB28.8245 million; the fund tracks the ChiNext Computing Power Infrastructure Index, covering the core industry chain of computing power infrastructure, with the top five sub-sectors being communication network equipment and components, IT services, consumer electronics components and assembly, printed circuit boards, and communication application value-added services.