Hong Kong stocks closed (08.12) | Hang Seng Index closed down 0.83%, Optical Communications and domestic housing stocks rebounded strongly, and Master Kong Holdings (00322) rose more than 7% after the results
The Zhitong Finance App learned that the market is waiting for the US CPI data for July to be released tonight. The three major Hong Kong stock indices are once again under pressure. At the close, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.83% or 212.65 points to 25440.17 points, with a full-day turnover of HK$216.779 billion; the Hang Seng State-owned Enterprises Index fell 0.96% to 8446.27 points; the Hang Seng Technology Index fell 0.99% to 4776.44 points.
Galaxy Securities said that as the disclosure of the interim report enters its peak, the market pricing logic is shifting from emotional repair and capital rotation to fundamental verification and structural rebalance. It is recommended to focus on the technology sector. The global AI pricing logic shows a trend of shifting from hardware infrastructure to application monetization; high dividend/dividend assets; and a definitive direction of mid-reporting performance.
Blue-chip stock performance
Master Kong Holdings (00322) moved higher after the results. At the close, it rose 7.43% to HK$12.29, with a turnover of HK$489 million. Contributed 2.48 points. Master Kong Holdings announced its 2026 interim results. Earnings for the first half of this year were RMB 40.545 billion, up 1.1% year on year; profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 2,433 billion, up 7.1% year on year; and adjusted profit attributable to shareholders was RMB 2,433 billion, up 15.2% year on year.
In terms of other blue-chip stocks, Longhu Group (00960) rose 8.78% to HK$6.94, contributing 2.03 points to the Hang Seng Index; China Resources Land (01109) rose 6.97% to HK$35, contributing 11.26 points to the Hang Seng Index; New Oriental-S (09901) fell 3.26% to HK$42.68, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 1.67 points; and Alibaba-W (09988) fell 3.01% to HK$122.6, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 60.46 points.
Popular sector aspects
On the market, TechNet stocks generally weakened, with Ali falling more than 3% and falling 1.95% before Tencent's listing; domestic housing stocks collectively exploded, and Longhu rose nearly 9%; AI industry chain prosperity was verified, optical communication and AI hardware rebounded, and Zhongji Xuchuang rose more than 8%; aluminum stocks were disrupted by overseas supply; gold stocks generally picked up, and the market waited for US inflation data in July; on the other side, some coal stocks, sporting goods stocks, etc. weakened.
AI hardware stocks such as optical communications strengthened. At the close, Zhongji Innox (03308) rose 8.83% to HK$1109; Changfei Optical Fiber Cable (06869) rose 7.53% to HK$131.4; and Huahong Hongli (01347) rose 7.13% to HK$142.8.
After the market on August 11, EST, Lumentum announced results for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, with revenue of US$1.01 billion, up 109% year on year, and adjusted earnings of US$3.23 per share, all exceeding market expectations; AI cloud service provider Coreweave simultaneously disclosed revenue of US$2.58 billion for the second quarter, up 112% year on year. On the conference call, Michael Hurlston believes that Lumentum is at the center of long-term transformation in the industry, and that there is currently an extreme imbalance between supply and demand for core optical devices. According to the AI server industry report published by Jibang Consulting, the annual growth rate of AI server shipments of the world's nine largest cloud service providers is expected to rise from 28% to nearly 31% in 2026, and it is estimated that the total capital expenditure will increase significantly by about 90% per year to exceed 886.7 billion US dollars.
The domestic housing stock market is the highest. At the close, Yuexiu Properties (00123) rose 9.99% to HK$3.91; Longhu Group (00960) rose 8.78% to HK$6.94; and China Resources Land (01109) rose 6.97% to HK$35.
Beijing recently introduced policies to optimize purchase restrictions and provident fund loans to further boost market expectations and residents' actual purchasing power during the off-season. Open Source Securities pointed out that Beijing is once again shortening the social security period for non-Beijing property buyers and increasing the amount of provident fund loans. The signal is clear, and the loose purchase restriction policy in Shanghai and Shenzhen is expected to follow up. Guojin Securities believes that the current Beijing property market policy came into effect after the Politburo meeting proposed “increasing countercyclical adjustment efforts” and before the traditional peak season of “Gold 9 Silver 10.” The real estate growth policy may become an important trigger for strengthening macroeconomic policies in the second half of the year.
Aluminum stocks performed brilliantly. At the close, Innovation Industries (02788) rose 6.63% to HK$19.14; Aluminum (02600) rose 2.69% to HK$8.78; and China's Hongqiao (01378) rose 1.66% to HK$24.44.
Overseas supply disruptions have driven Lunlan Aluminum to a seven-week high. Norwegian Hydro announced that the company's Alunorte plant in Brazil has cut alumina production to 50% of production capacity due to “natural gas supply” issues. According to public information, the Alunorte plant is designed to have an annual production capacity of 6.3 million tons/year and is known as “the largest alumina plant outside of China”. Alumina is a key raw material in aluminum smelters. It is worth noting that negotiations between the US and Iran are at an impasse, the prospects for reopening the Strait of Hormuz are slim, and supply concerns in the aluminum market continue to heat up.
Gold stocks generally rose. At the close, Everest Gold (01815) rose 9.51% to HK$1.785; Chifeng Gold (06693) rose 3.74% to HK$38.3; and Shandong Gold (01787) rose 2.49% to HK$23.04.
Tonight at 8:30 p.m., the US CPI data for July will be a key litmus test for whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in September. Considering the “non-farm payrolls” employment report that unexpectedly blew up last week, weakening CPI may further encourage financial markets to reduce their bets on the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike during the year. This month, the cumulative increase in gold futures was about 8%. Last week, it also recorded the best weekly performance since January, with an increase of 7.1%. CITIC Futures believes that if the July CPI clearly falls short of market expectations, it will push gold up further; if a sharp rebound exceeds expectations, or rekindles concerns about inflation, it will limit the rise of gold.
Popular exotic stocks
Reading Group (00772) surged after its performance. At the close, it was up 10.13% to HK$22.84.
Reading Group's revenue of 3.53 billion yuan in the first half of this year increased 10.7% year-on-year. The revenue from the skit and AI comic business reached 430 million yuan, an increase of 2.3 times over the previous year. The proportion of popular short dramas reached 4 times the market average; the IP derivatives business also maintained a strong growth trend, with GMV reaching 780 million yuan in the first half of the year, an increase of more than 60% over the previous year.
MINIMAX-W (00100) was well received. At the close, it was up 8.96% to HK$357.4.
According to Yamato, the company focuses on competitive model capabilities and cost efficiency, and is one of the few pure AI big model listed companies benefiting from the AI commercialization trend in China. Compared to the company's fundamentals and growth prospects, recent weakness provides an attractive market entry point, and the upward catalyst for the next 12 months should support valuation revaluation.
CGN New Energy (01811) came under pressure after the warning. At the close, it was down 8.65% to HK$2.06.
CGN New Energy expects profit attributable to shareholders to fall by about 49.8% year-on-year in the first half of the year. This is mainly due to a decrease in feed-in tariffs and power generation for wind power projects; and other decreases in revenue and loss. Excluding the impact of one-time sales proceeds, the expected profit attributable to equity shareholders during the period fell by about 41.3% year over year.
China Tower (00788) declined after its performance. At the close, it was down 4.17% to HK$9.315.
China Tower announced interim results. In the first half of the year, revenue of 48.693 billion yuan decreased 1.8% year on year, and profit to mother of 7.489 billion yuan increased 30.1% year on year, but operating cash flow of 7.135 billion yuan decreased by 21.54 billion yuan year on year. UBS lowered its target price by 14% to HK$10, mainly due to the decline in tower revenue due to telecom operators optimizing mobile networks.