"Hong Kong Stocks" Hang Seng Index drops 656 points in half a day, commodities, Chinese telecommunications, and automotive stocks under pressure

The commodity market continued to be volatile during the Asian session, with Hong Kong stocks declining in the early market. The Hang Seng Index opened down 289 points and the decline expanded, falling 656 points or 2.4% to 26,730 points; the National Index dropped 252 points or 2.7% to 9,064 points; the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 210 points or 3.7% to 5,508 points. The total turnover of the market for the half-day was HKD 178.124 billion.

Gold and silver prices continued to decline, with China Silver (00815.HK) and Shandong Gold (01787.HK) dropping 10% and 10.6%, respectively. Zhaojin (01818.HK), Zijin (02899.HK), China Gold International (02099.HK), and Zijin Gold International (02259.HK) fell between 5.4% and 7.5%. Resource stocks Jiang Copper (00358.HK) and Wanguo Resources (01208.HK) dropped 8.9% and 6.4%, while Chalco (02600.HK) and Luoyang Molybdenum (03993.HK) fell 5% and 4.7%. Brent crude oil fell over 4% during the Asian session, with PetroChina (00857.HK) and CNOOC (00883.HK) down 3.7% and 3.8%. Coal stocks Shenhua (01088.HK) expected a decrease in net profit of at least 6.3% last year, with the stock price falling 5.1%, and China Coal (01898.HK) down 5.2%.

The US dollar rebounded, and domestic property stocks Jinmao (00817.HK), Xincheng (01030.HK), Sunac (01918.HK), and Vanke (02202.HK) retreated by 5.5% to 6.6%, while Greentown (03900.HK) fell 4.8%. Steel stocks Maanshan (00323.HK) and cement stocks China National Building Material (03323.HK) dropped 6.3% and 10.7%. Local real estate stocks New World (00017.HK) and Sun Hung Kai Properties (00016.HK) fell 3.8% and 4.2%. New World stated that there is no intention to make a full offer for potential investments, and the stock plunged 13.4%.

China Mobile (00941.HK), China Unicom (00762.HK), and China Telecom (00728.HK) had their value-added tax on telecom services adjusted from 6% to 9%, with China Telecom and China Unicom down 7.6% and 8.8%, and China Mobile down 2.9% to close at HKD 77.5.

After several car companies announced monthly sales data, declines were observed. BYD (01211.HK) reported a 30.1% year-on-year decrease in new energy vehicle sales in January, with 210,000 units sold (a month-on-month decrease of 50%). BYD and XPeng (09868.HK) fell 7.8% and 9%, while Leapmotor (09863.HK) and Nio (09866.HK) dropped 5.1% and 6%, respectively. Xiaomi (01810.HK) and Li Auto (02015.HK) fell 3% and 3.6%. Changan Automobile (02333.HK) is expected to earn 21.7% less last year, with the stock price dropping 4.8% In the technology sector, Tencent (00700.HK) and JD.com (09618.HK) fell by 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively, while Kuaishou (01024.HK), Baidu (09888.HK), Alibaba (09988.HK), and NetEase (09999.HK) dropped by 3.3% to 3.6%. Meituan (03690.HK) decreased by 2.7%. Additionally, Meitu (01357.HK), Bilibili (09626.HK), and Weimob (02013.HK) fell by 4.5% to 5%, and GDS Holdings (09698.HK) declined by 6.8%. AI stocks such as Paradigm Intelligent (06682.HK), Jingtai (02228.HK), and Envision Intelligent (03696.HK) dropped by 4.1% to 5.2%, while MINIMAX (00100.HK) and Yunzhisheng (09678.HK) rose by 8.8% and 12.6%.

In the chip sector, SMIC (00981.HK), Nexperia (02676.HK), Innovent Biologics (02577.HK), and Bairun (06082.HK) fell by 4.8% to 5.9%, with Hua Hong (01347.HK) dropping by 10.5%. Chip equipment stocks such as ASMPT (00522.HK) decreased by 4.3%. In the mobile component sector, BYD Electronics (00285.HK) fell by 4.1%, while Q Technology (01478.HK) and Sunny Optical (02382.HK) dropped by 5.9% and 5.4%, respectively. Robotics stocks such as Youjiang (02432.HK) and UBTECH (09880.HK) fell by 5.2% and 6.6%. In the wire sector, Changfei Optical Fiber (06869.HK) rose by 3.6%.

In the financial sector, HSBC (00005.HK) fell by 1.3%, while Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388.HK) and AIA (01299.HK) dropped by 2.3%. Domestic insurance stocks such as China Ping An (02318.HK) fell by 2.8%, and China Life (02628.HK) and ZhongAn (06060.HK) dropped by 4% and 3.5%, respectively. In other stocks, Macau's January gaming revenue increased by 24% year-on-year, exceeding expectations, with casino stocks such as Sands China (01928.HK) rising by 3.8%