On August 17, the Hong Kong stock market recorded net southbound capital inflows of HK$3.077 billion. The Shanghai Connect saw net buying of HK$1.974 billion, while the Shenzhen Connect contributed net buying of HK$1.103 billion.
Leading the net buying list were SMIC (00981), Z.AI (02513), and TENCENT (00700). On the flip side, the most significant net selling targeted HUA HONG GRACE (01347) and 建滔积层板 (01888).
Among active stocks on both Connect channels, SMIC (00981) secured net purchases of HK$1.774 billion, while HUA HONG GRACE (01347) faced net selling of HK$778 million. The divergence in post-earnings performance between these two chipmakers stems from a "scissors gap" between market expectations and actual results. HUA HONG GRACE's second-quarter net profit of US$38.6 million slightly missed the consensus estimate of US$39.4 million, and its third-quarter revenue guidance fell short of expectations, triggering profit-taking after the positive news was priced in. In contrast, SMIC not only surpassed forecasts across all second-quarter metrics but also guided higher gross margins for the third quarter, prompting multiple institutions to upgrade their ratings.
Z.AI (02513) and MINIMAX-W (00100) attracted net purchases of HK$1.672 billion and HK$306 million, respectively. On August 8, DeepSeek announced a substantial increase in API prices. Morgan Stanley interpreted this move as a positive signal of improving pricing discipline within the industry. The bank believes the sector is transitioning from price competition to commercialization driven by intelligent capabilities, with three structural shifts occurring simultaneously: rational pricing, tighter open-source licensing, and a jump in model parameter scale.
TENCENT (00700) received net buying of HK$533 million. Daiwa noted that while short-term capital expenditures may remain elevated, TENCENT believes current AI spending can be justified by attractive long-term returns. Management pointed out that computing power can already be monetized through resale, yet the company prioritizes advancing AI initiatives as they are seen to create greater long-term value. The brokerage expects tangible benefits from WorkBuddy and 小微 to emerge gradually, requiring investor patience.
Alibaba-W (09988) saw net purchases of HK$422 million. The company announced the official open-sourcing of its Qwen3.8 series models on August 14, allowing all developers, research institutions, and enterprises to freely download, deploy, and utilize them. The newly released Qwen3.8-27B, a native multimodal dense model with only 27 billion parameters, already surpasses the overall performance of Qwen3.7-Plus.
长飞光纤光缆 (06869) faced net selling of HK$418 million. According to Jefferies, globally announced new optical fiber preform capacity for 2026-2028 totals 19,400 tons, with 2026 potentially still in a supply-constrained period. The risk window lies in 2027-2028. Nomura previously cautioned that if new entrants successfully develop high-end products—such as hollow-core and multi-core fibers—and execute capacity expansion plans smoothly, intensifying competition could pressure profit margins for existing players.
Additionally, 剑桥科技 (06166) recorded net buying of HK$191 million, while 兆易创新 (03986) and 建滔积层板 (01888) faced net selling of HK$297 million and HK$439 million, respectively.
Comments