A global rebound in technology stocks drove mixed results for Hong Kong's three major indices on Wednesday, with the Hang Seng Tech Index outperforming. The Hang Seng Index closed 25.55 points, or 0.1%, higher at 25,884.43, with total turnover reaching HK$328.178 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 0.38% to 8,612.15, while the Hang Seng Tech Index rose 0.53% to 4,829.22. For the month, the Hang Seng Index accumulated a gain of 13.13%, the HSCEI rose 13.94%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index added 7.98%. Analysts at Soochow Securities noted that while Hong Kong stocks remain in a catch-up window, the market faces short-term risks of stalling or pulling back, with any near-term rebound hinging on overseas developments. Everbright Securities suggested focusing on "structural opportunities," stating the market lacks the foundation for a broad bull run and has entered a phase of "defensive positioning as a base, with growth for higher returns."

LENOVO GROUP (00992) shares performed strongly, closing up 9.75% at HK$23.86 on turnover of HK$3.027 billion, contributing 22.19 points to the Hang Seng Index. CLSA forecasts that Lenovo's server business profit margin and revenue will see a strong breakout in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, with the margin expected to expand from 3.6% in the quarter ending March to 5.2% in the quarter ending June, with further improvements ahead. Among other blue-chip stocks, Laopu Gold (06181) rose 10.1% to HK$324.8, contributing 2.87 points to the index. BABA-W (09988) climbed 4.65% to HK$117, contributing 82.75 points. On the downside, Budweiser Brewing Company APAC (01876) fell 6.67% to HK$6.58, dragging the index down by 1.38 points, while New Oriental-S (09901) dropped 4.55% to HK$45.28, shaving 2.59 points off the index.

Leading Sector Performance

Technology internet stocks showed mixed results, with Alibaba surging over 4%, Baidu gaining 3.72%, and Tencent rising 0.72%. The tech sector staged a powerful rebound, with AI applications, memory concepts, and semiconductors leading the gains. The Southern 2x Long SK Hynix ETF soared over 67%. A weaker US dollar boosted gold prices, extending gains for gold stocks. News that Ubtech Technology's ChiNext IPO had been approved lifted robotics concept stocks across the board. Conversely, consumer stocks like beer, tobacco, and food retreated, while oil and Chinese banking stocks showed weakness.

AI Sector Stages Strong Comeback

The AI sector led the rally. Haizhi Technology Group (02706) closed up 82.65% at HK$39.16. Delton (01989) rose 20.46% to HK$100.4. Days Intelligent (09903) gained 12.84% to HK$425.4, and GigaDevice (03986) added 7.19% to HK$459. Cooling US core PCE inflation reduced expectations for near-term rate hikes. Additionally, earnings reports from Microsoft and Amazon confirmed that heavy AI investments by leading tech companies are entering a return cycle. Combined with the end of selling pressure from large AI fund liquidations, US-listed AI hardware stocks staged an epic rebound overnight, with Japanese and Korean markets also rallying strongly, boosting sentiment across the Asia-Pacific AI supply chain. SPD Bank International believes the industry's main theme for the second half of the year will revolve around computing power expansion driven by Agentic AI, growing token consumption, and profit realization within the chain. AI capital expenditure has not yet peaked, and the high景气 for memory and CPUs is expected to continue. Driven by global expansion and domestic memory IPOs, high景气 for semiconductor equipment is likely to persist.

Robotics Concept Stocks Mostly Higher

Most robotics concept stocks advanced. Laifulai (03952) closed up 21.46% at HK$60. Xiangong Intelligent (06106) rose 17.75% to HK$58.05. Zhaowei Electromechanical (02692) gained 9.37% to HK$43.88. On July 30th evening, Ubtech Technology announced that its application for an initial public offering on the STAR Market had received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, with subscription set to begin on August 10th. Ubtech's listing is seen not only as a capital market milestone for the company but also as the first profitable valuation benchmark for the entire humanoid robot track. Earlier, a Tesla executive released a video summarizing key points from the earnings call: Optimus humanoid robot production at the Fremont line is slated to start by the end of 2026, with a long-term plan for 1 million units annual capacity, and a second line in Texas targeting a total long-term annual capacity of 10 million units.

Gold Stocks Generally Rise

Gold stocks broadly increased. Lingbao Gold (03330) closed up 5.75% at HK$19.3. Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining (06693) rose 2.33% to HK$33.88. Shandong Gold Mining (01787) gained 1.66% to HK$20.16. The US Dollar Index fell below the 100 mark overnight, closing down 0.82% at 99.98, its largest single-day drop since January. Meanwhile, the US June PCE price index turned negative month-on-month, and core PCE rose only 0.1% month-on-month, below expectations. Cooling inflation strengthened expectations for rate cuts, while signs of slowing economic growth further supported gold prices. Guotai Junan Futures believes that against the backdrop of easing rate hike pressure and a falling dollar index, the price center for gold and silver may move higher with volatility in the short term, with further direction dependent on geopolitical developments. In the medium to long term, the Federal Reserve may still find it difficult to cut rates in September, with the timing potentially pushed back to year-end. Coupled with the accelerating restructuring of the international political order and sustained central bank gold purchases, there remains support for precious metals.

Notable Stock Movements

Yingpai Pharmaceutical-B (07630) saw a significant surge, closing up 14.84% at HK$13.23. The company announced an exclusive partnership with global specialty pharmaceutical company Pharmanovia, granting it exclusive rights for the manufacturing, development, and commercialization of Senaparib for the maintenance monotherapy of advanced epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Yingpai could receive total payments of up to €423.5 million.

PRADA (01913) rose after its results, closing up 14.14% at HK$43.26. Morgan Stanley released a report stating that Prada's second-quarter sales were 3% above market expectations, with retail sales 1% higher. The Prada brand's retail performance exceeded expectations. First-half EBIT was 3% above market consensus, mainly driven by margin improvement. The broker expects second-half EBIT to continue to be negatively impacted by Versace by approximately 350 basis points, though currency headwinds should ease. The target price is HK$42 with a "Market Perform" rating.

MINIMAX-W (00100) showed strength throughout the day, closing up 13.15% at HK$230.6. The company announced the official launch of MiniMax H3, a universal multimodal generation model capable of unified understanding of multimodal contexts composed of text, images, video, and sound, and can output audio and video with native dual channels, supporting up to 15 seconds of 2K resolution.

MEITU (01357) delivered a standout performance, closing up 10.28% at HK$4.72. The company reported that as of June 2026, its number of paying subscribers exceeded 18.44 million, a new record. Revenue from imaging and design products grew 30.9% year-on-year to approximately RMB 1.8 billion. Additionally, annualized recurring revenue (ARR) from AI productivity applications grew 47.8% year-on-year. Under non-IFRS measures, the company expects its adjusted net profit attributable to equity holders for the first half of 2026 to achieve year-on-year growth of 36% to 40%.