Rare earth and metal shares lead China, Hong Kong stocks higher

SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks rose on Wednesday, as investors snapped up rare earth and metal shares amid simmering geopolitical tensions.

China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both gained 1.2% each.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.8%.

The CSI Rare Earth Index jumped 6.4%, leading gains onshore.

The rally came after Reuters reported that the Trump administration plans to use a Pentagon-created artificial intelligence programme to help set reference prices for critical minerals as it works to build a global metals trading zone.

Non-ferrous metal shares climbed 4.9%, while materials shares outperformed offshore, up 3.1%.

Tech majors rebounded slightly in Hong Kong, but still traded near their lowest level since July 2025.

“Despite the year-to-date weakness in internet stocks causing significant losses, investors believe concerns over the AI-fear trade are exaggerated for the China market,” UBS analysts said in a note to clients.

“Consequently, investors are reallocating funds to less crowded sectors like oil services, coal, lithium, and insurance names.”

Hong Kong-listed Alibaba and Tencent fell 9% and 12%, respectively, over the past month, while onshore artificial intelligence shares lost nearly 4%.

Onshore consumer staple and real estate shares rose 1.1% and 2.8%, respectively.

Goldman Sachs analysts said data from the Lunar New Year period pointed to a solid demand backdrop, with consumers still willing to spend during the festival, broadly matching slightly higher market expectations.

They, however, cautioned that a typical post-holiday slowdown and a longer break that might have flattered the figures made the subsequent trend crucial to monitor.