Hong Kong stocks closed (08.17) | The Hang Seng Index closed up 1.34% and stopped falling four times in a row. Computing power hardware, non-ferrous, and shipping stocks performed well
The Zhitong Finance App learned that the three major indices of the Hong Kong stock market opened high today. The Hang Seng Index stopped falling four times in a row, and the Hengke Index once rose more than 2%. At the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 1.34% or 336.38 points to 25453.23 points, with a full day turnover of HK$21.77 billion; the Hang Seng State-owned Enterprises Index rose 1.19% to 8439.97 points; and the Hang Seng Technology Index rose 1.58% to 4782.03 points.
Huatai Securities believes that after experiencing difficulties in stopping losses during a highly concentrated pullback, the current market is not once again joining a certain main line, but rather choosing strong profit leaders in various industries. As far as Hong Kong stocks are concerned, the external environment stabilizes and dividend dividend rates fall, and the fastest phase of capital inflows may come to an end, but they can still play a role in risk diversification and balance. Therefore, first, dividend positions are still important, and second, the importance of stock selection is increasing.
Blue-chip stock performance
SMIC (00981) rose again. At the close, it rose 6.14% to HK$75.15, with a turnover of HK$10.267 billion. Contributed 27.93 points. Lyon pointed out that SMIC's revenue and gross margin for the second quarter of 2026 were better than the upper limit of the guideline. The guidance for the third quarter was also higher than market expectations. The company's second-quarter shipment growth was driven by rising production capacity and AI-related chip orders. SMIC is optimistic about the demand outlook, driven by AI, the return of overseas orders, and localization.
In terms of other blue-chip stocks, Orient Overseas International (00316) rose 7.29% to HK$158.9, contributing 2.2 points to the Hang Seng Index; Old Shop Gold (06181) rose 5.16% to HK$350.8, contributing 1.68 points to the Hang Seng Index; Haidilao (06862) fell 1.49% to HK$11.25, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 0.52 points; and MTR Corporation (00066) fell 1.38% to HK$32.78, dragging down the Hang Seng Index by 1.32 points.
Popular sector aspects
On the market, large science and network stocks were generally flourishing, and Alibaba rose nearly 2%. The head of SK warned that next year may face the worst “storage shortage”, and storage concepts will rise sharply; computing power hardware concepts such as optical communications and PCBs will explode; copper stocks have risen the highest, with LME copper reaching a record high; CRO concept stocks are generally rising, leading companies are reporting performance to verify the sentiment of the industry; and shipping stocks, commercial aerospace, and robotics concepts are generally improving. On the other side, Yinnuo Pharmaceutical's lifting of the ban plummeted by more than 27%, and the biomedical sector partially declined.
Storage chip and semiconductor stocks had the highest gains. At the close, Lanqi Technology (06809) rose 9.58% to HK$311; GigaYi Innovation (03986) rose 8.41% to HK$554; and Huahong Hongli (01347) rose 7.45% to HK$139.9.
The storage revaluation logic continues to improve. SanDisk's long-term financial goals on Investor Day far exceeded expectations, causing the market to re-examine the cycle pricing logic of NAND in the past. The company expects the average annual revenue growth rate of FY2028-FY2030 to reach medium to high double digits; non-GAAP gross margin of about 80% and operating profit margin of about 75%. Furthermore, SK Hynix Chairman Choi Tae-won once again emphasized the explosive growth in storage demand and stated that the worst “storage shortage” will occur next year. According to Caixin Securities, the storage industry is in a super boom cycle driven by AI computing power, showing a booming pattern of tight supply and demand and a sharp rise in volume and price.
The optical communication concept is strong. At the close, Haiguang Xinzheng (01191) rose 23.23% to HK$122; Changfei Optical Fiber Cable (06869) rose 12.1% to HK$148.2; and Zhongji Xuchuang (03308) rose 8.18% to HK$1,270.
According to the League of Nations Minsheng Securities, the performance of Lumentum and Coherent continues to increase, demand for 800G remains strong, 1.6T has entered the accelerated volume phase, and new interconnection solutions such as OCS, NPO and CPO are gradually contributing to the increase. Nvidia's Spectrum-X Ethernet silicon optical switches have entered full mass production, Feynman has further evolved into higher bandwidth interconnection architectures, and the expansion of AI clusters is expected to continue to increase demand for optical modules, lasers, and silicon optical devices. Demand for overseas AI clouds continues to be strong. CoreWeave, Nebius orders, prices and project payback cycles further verify the resilience of computing power demand and the commercial return of AI infrastructure. Continued expansion of production by overseas cloud vendors is expected to drive growth in demand for high-speed connectivity.
Non-ferrous stocks such as gold and copper rose. At the close, Minmetals Resources (01208) rose 7.25% to HK$9.025; Zijin Gold International (02259) rose 5.96% to HK$135.1 after the results. The company declared an interim dividend of HK$1.5 for the first time; and Lingbao Gold (03330) rose 2.99% to HK$22.06.
LME copper was once close to 14,400 US dollars/ton during the day, only one step away from the historical high of 14527.5 US dollars/ton. It is worth noting that US copper siphoning continues, copper stocks continue to be removed, and domestic copper inventory levels are at an historically low level. Furthermore, the US CPI for July was in line with expectations, retail sales data fell short of expectations, and expectations of the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike cooled down. On the gold side, spot gold returned above 4,400 US dollars today. The Deutsche Bank Research Report pointed out that the fifth round of “explosive” growth phase of gold, which began in 2024, is still continuing. Central bank purchases and ETF capital inflows form dual inelastic demand support. The target price range for the end of the year is 4700-5100 US dollars/ounce.
Shipping stocks rose across the board. At the close, Orient Overseas International (00316) rose 7.29% to HK$158.9; COSCO Offshore (01919) rose 6.13% to HK$16.44; and Haifeng International (01308) rose 3.97% to HK$42.4.
Shipping Index (European) futures strengthened across the board today. The main 2610 contract surged more than 10%, reaching a high of 1,765 points. Market participants believe that the recent decline in SCFI European route freight rates is lower than market expectations, the typhoon's disturbance of ports and shipping schedules continues, and the confrontation between the US and Iran has escalated. This has all made the market's expectations about the European route resumption process once again cautious, and the risk premium for shipping index (European route) futures has rebounded somewhat. Notably, Maersk performed strongly in the second quarter, benefiting from strong market demand, rising spot shipping rates, and overall growth in various business segments.
The CRO concept is on the rise today. At the close, Gloria Incorporated (06821) rose 6.56% to HK$121.9; Zhaoyan Pharmaceutical (06127) rose 6.3% to HK$26.66; Kingsley Biotech (01548) rose 4.82% to HK$26.08; and Pharmacom Kangde (02359) rose 3.04% to HK$203.4.
Recently, various overseas CXO companies have successively released their 2026 interim reports. Among them, Yao Ming Kangde's interim results have greatly exceeded market expectations, and the 2026 full-year performance guidelines have been raised comprehensively. Furthermore, AI4S continues to enable drug research and development. Guojin Securities believes that a large number of candidate molecules produced by AI virtual design still need to be verified by wet experiments such as synthesis, pharmacology, and toxicology, which directly drives the growth of upstream and CXO outsourcing demand. Kingsley Biotech's latest results show that in the first half of this year, Kingsley's life sciences business revenue was US$319 million, up 28.8% year on year, with AIDD related business doubling year on year.
Popular exotic stocks
Shang Tang - W (00020) is happy. At the close, it was up 8.9% to HK$1.53.
Shangtang expects to achieve a profit of about 500 million yuan to 700 million yuan during the first half of 2026, turning a year-on-year loss into a profit. This will be the first time since Shang Tang went public to achieve consolidated profit. This is mainly due to the reduction in losses in the main business sector in the first half of 2026 compared to the first half of 2025; and the benefits brought about by changes in the fair value of investment in AI ecosystem enterprises that the Group has strategically built over many years.
Geely Auto (00175) rose in the afternoon. At the close, it was up 4.77% to HK$18.67.
Geely's total revenue for the first half of the year reached 173.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, a record high, and maintained steady growth for six consecutive years. Net profit from core to mother reached 9.68 billion yuan, a sharp increase of 46% over the previous year, and the growth rate exceeded revenue growth; net profit margin from core to mother was 5.6%, up 27% year on year. Gross margin increased to 17.9%, and bicycle revenue increased 16% year over year to 112,000 yuan.
Yinnuo Pharmaceutical-B (02591) reached a record low. At the close, it was down 27.61% to HK$4.785.
Yinnuo Pharmaceutical was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on August 15, 2025. After one year of listing, the controlling shareholders' and majority shareholders' 12-month sales ban promises expired on August 15. According to data, the number of shares unbanned this time is 384 million shares, accounting for about 91.3% of tradable shares.
The stock price of Mingchuang Premium (09896) is under pressure. At the close, it fell 7.43% to HK$21.44.
Mingchuang Premium expects revenue of 114.5 to 11.55 billion yuan in the first half of this year, up about 22% to 23% year on year; profit for the period is about RMB 940 million to RMB 960 million, an increase of about 4% to 6% year on year; adjusted net profit after excluding gains and losses on exchange is about 12.1 to 1.23 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1% to 3%.