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SHANGHAI: Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks ended higher, with the Shanghai benchmark notching its sixth straight winning session, supported by regional market strength in holiday-thinned trading.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.53 percent, recording its sixth consecutive advance, the longest winning streak since July.

China’s blue-chip CSI300 index climbed 0.29 percent.

Global investors are increasing their wagers on Chinese artificial intelligence companies, betting on the next DeepSeek and seeking to diversify, with concerns growing about a speculative bubble in the sector on Wall Street.

So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 17.6 percent? and the CSI300 has risen 17.8 percent.

“We expect the bull run to continue, but at a slower pace,” analysts at Goldman Sachs said in a note.

“This is reminiscent of an equity cycle transition from Hope to Growth where both earnings realization and moderate PE expansion in the latter typically supersede strong but volatile re-rating gains in the former to drive returns,” they said, expecting Chinese stocks to rise 38 percent by end-2027.

President Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it will slap tariffs on Chinese semiconductor imports over Beijing’s “unreasonable” pursuit of chip industry dominance, but would delay the action until June 2027.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.17 percent, while the tech index gained 0.19 percent.

Hong Kong’s market was closed for the afternoon session on Christmas Eve and will remain shut on Thursday and Friday for the Christmas holidays. Trading will resume on December 29. Asian shares advanced on Wednesday, capping a year of brisk AI-driven gains, while commodities such as gold and silver extended their bullish run to new all-time highs as 2025 draws to a close. Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.35 percent.