SHANGHAI: China and Hong Kong stocks ended at their lowest levels in two months on Monday, tracking a global tech sell-off that some investors said could present a buying opportunity.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index hit its lowest level since April 15. The Shanghai Composite Index touched its lowest since April 8. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 1.2 percent to its lowest since late March.
The experience of this year’s March sell-off at the outset of the Iran war is giving some market participants confidence in their ability to ride out short-term volatility.
“From a short-term perspective, there’s a bubble in China’s AI stocks,” said Charles Wang, chairman of Shenzhen Dragon Pacific Capital Management Co.
“But from a long-term horizon, the market is still healthy.”
The Shanghai Composite Index has retraced all of its year-to-date gains, having risen more than 7 percent at its peak.
China’s stock market remains in a short-term correction phase, but the pace of the pullback should slow notably from here, said Li Qiusuo, chief domestic strategy analyst at CICC.
“At this point, there is no need to be overly concerned,” Li said on an investor call on Monday, adding that March 23 had presented a buying opportunity after the benchmark index broke below a key technical level. The Shanghai Composite Index rallied as much as 10 percent from its March trough.
Li forecast onshore A-share earnings growth of 6 percent this year, which would be the strongest since 2021.
This year’s tech rally in China has centered on the chip supply chain, closely mirroring performance in global stocks such as Micron and Nvidia, as Beijing pushes for semiconductor self-sufficiency.
Shares of Zhongji Innolight, an Nvidia supplier of optical components and bellwether for China’s AI industry, fell 2.1 percent. The company recently overtook CATL with the biggest weight in China’s CSI300 benchmark.
The tech-focused STAR50 Index fell 4.3 percent, while onshore semiconductor shares dropped 4.5 percent.
Wall Street’s nine-week winning streak ended with a thud last Friday, as red-hot technology stocks suffered their largest one-day decline since April 2025, after a hot jobs report fanned fears of a hawkish policy pivot from the Federal Reserve.