Hong Kong stocks broke the 22,000 mark in morning trading, fueled by traders’ rush to buy Chinese technology stocks amid rising artificial intelligence potential.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed at 22,191 points at midday, up 333 points or 1.5 percent. The turnover on the main board reached nearly HK$156.4 billion.
The Tech Index rose as much as 2.3 percent, poised for its highest close since February 2022, but later retreated to 5,360 points, still up 1.5 percent.
Kuaishou Technology (1024), Bilibili (9626), and Baidu (9888) were among the top gainers, up 7.49, 6.99, and 7.37 percent, respectively.
BYD’s stocks bucked the trend and softened, with BYD (1211) falling 0.57 percent and BYD Electronics (0285) dropping 4.79 percent.
Mainland stock markets fell, however. The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,342 points at midday, down 0.12 percent while the Shenzhen Component Index stood at 10,658 points, down 0.47 percent.
BLOOMBERG and STAFF REPORTER
