Hong Kong stocks set for strongest week in over a year on China internet gains

SHANGHAI: Hong Kong stocks rose on Friday, headed for their best weekly performance in over a year, as sentiment toward Chinese internet companies brightened, while mainland Chinese shares also headed for weekly gains fuelled by a rally in chip stocks.  

China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index rose 0.5% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8%. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was up 1.9%.

The Hang Seng Index has advanced nearly 5% so far this week, set to log its biggest weekly gain since March 2025.

The CSI300 was on track to end the week 1.2% higher.

The Hang Seng Tech Index has climbed 14% from a 1-1/2-year low hit in June, as investors rotate out of hardware stocks and into lower-valuation names.

The index has risen 8% this week, with tech majors listed in Hong Kong climbing 2.5% on Friday.

Alibaba shares added nearly 4%, while Tencent edged down 0.5%.

The upside thesis for China’s internet sector remains far from certain, UBS analysts said in a note, adding that while positives from expectations laid out in Alibaba’s June quarter preview have helped pull the sector back from extreme pessimism, further gains likely require additional confirmation.

Opportunity cost could re-emerge as a limiting factor if the AI hardware theme regains momentum, the analysts said.

Onshore, the tech-focused STAR50 Index edged down 0.4%, though it was still up 10% this week, outperforming South Korea’s KOSPI, which fell 5.6% over the same period.

Upbeat sentiment in Chinese chips and AI supply chain stocks this week was fueled by anticipation building around major memory chip maker Changxin Memory Technologies’(CXMT)listing.

Consumer staples and healthcare shares led gains onshore, up 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively. Semiconductor shares edged down 0.7%.