Semiconductors lift China stocks; Hong Kong falls as Alibaba weighs

HONG KONG: China stocks inched higher on Thursday, buoyed by semiconductor gains, while Hong Kong shares extended losses as heavyweights Alibaba and CK Hutchison weighed.  

China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index edged up 0.1% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2%.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng was down 0.9%.

Alibaba Group dropped 5% by midday after the tech and e-commerce giant said it is pushing ahead with the spin-off of its chip business T-Head, dragging the Hang Seng Tech down 1.4%.

The sell-off also comes amid muted expectations for this year’s Singles’ Day shopping festival as consumers tighten their purse strings.

Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison lost more than 4% after it reportedly paused a planned dual listing of retailer AS Watson Group. In mainland A-shares, semiconductor and AI-related stocks outperformed, tracking overnight Wall Street gains.

Gold and robotics shares led the decline, on the other hand.

Larry Hu, Macquarie Group’s chief China economist, said Chinese equities’ performance has been “disappointing” so far this year, largely due to the lack of stimulus policy to support domestic demand.

Going into 2027, the strength of exports “will determine how much domestic stimulus Beijing will provide to meet the GDP growth target” and then drive the performance of Chinese equities, he said in a note.

The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.08%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.06% and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index was up 2.35%.