A sharper tone in the Middle East, combined with a necessary pullback from record highs on Wall Street, pushed Hong Kong stocks lower on Tuesday. After a brief morning rally, the market reversed course, closing down 1.10%. During a recent interview, former President Trump outlined three potential courses of action against Iran: monitoring the country's deteriorating situation, launching a military strike, or applying economic pressure. He reiterated demands for compensation and suggested the US has the capacity to escalate the conflict if it chooses, making the prospect of a successful diplomatic resolution appear increasingly remote. This geopolitical uncertainty sent WTI crude oil surging 5.26% back above $82, while Brent crude jumped 5.14% to break through $87 per barrel. Energy stocks were the primary beneficiaries, with SHANDONG MOLONG (00568) rising over 5% and CNOOC (00883) gaining more than 3%.
Rising oil prices stoke inflation fears, which in turn revive expectations for interest rate hikes. This pressured gold, which had been on a strong upward trajectory. LINGBAO GOLD (03330) and LAOPU GOLD (06181) both fell over 8%. Meanwhile, a major announcement from NVIDIA failed to ignite the tech sector. The company formalized a partnership with six top global asset managers—Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR—to establish an independent computing financing platform. The plan aims to mobilize over $500 billion in third-party capital over the long term to fund purchases of NVIDIA chips and the construction of large-scale AI data centers. In the past, this news would have been explosive, but the current market sentiment is more skeptical. The prevailing view is that Wall Street is essentially lending money to AI clients to buy NVIDIA chips, creating synthetic demand through external leverage rather than reflecting genuine, organic industry need. This skepticism is reinforced by real-world developments: data shows a surge in US local bans on new data center construction, with over 500 prohibitions in July alone, up from roughly 300 in late June, driven by resident complaints about water and electricity shortages and noise pollution.
Despite a domestic positive—Alibaba Cloud's new architecture capable of shortening delivery times to 100 days and reducing construction costs by over 10%—tech stocks remained sluggish. Alibaba (09988) briefly spiked at the open but quickly faded, closing down 0.24%. In another sector development, reports surfaced that Doubao's hotel booking channel has a software service fee of 11.4%, plus a 0.6% payment processing fee, for a total rate of 12%. This sparked concerns about large language models encroaching on OTA territory. However, the report notes that Doubao does not charge hotels advertising fees, only a commission on completed bookings. This suggests the "AI eating everything" narrative may be overblown, and specialized service providers with core advantages remain in a strong position. For instance, MARKETINGFORCE (02556) rose over 3% again today.
The pharmaceutical sector continued to see high interest. According to public fund data, institutional investors conducted 104 research visits to pharmaceutical and biotech companies last week, covering names like BABA-W, making it the only Shenwan sector with over 100 visits. In Hong Kong, the focus remained on CXO stocks. BABA-W (09988) led the charge with a gain of over 6%, while other names like BABA-WR (02268), BABA-WR (06160), and BABA-WR (06821) also rose over 2%.
Yushu Technology Co., Ltd. (688836.SH) completed its online subscription on August 10th, with a final lottery rate of about 0.02%. The IPO price was 150.8 yuan, giving it a total market capitalization of 610 billion yuan, significantly exceeding market expectations of 420 billion yuan. The company's IPO price-to-earnings ratio of 219.23 times dwarfs the industry average of 38.56 times. This high valuation is underpinned by impressive growth: revenue surged from 1.59 billion yuan to 16.99 billion yuan between 2023 and 2025, a near 10-fold increase. In 2025, the company shipped over 5,500 humanoid robots, ranking first globally, and saw its gross margin improve to 60.13%. The significance of this IPO is that it provides a clear valuation benchmark for pure-play humanoid robot companies, directly driving a re-rating across the entire Hong Kong-listed robotics supply chain. BABA-WR (06106), a leader in robot controllers, saw its shares surge over 10% on expectations of strong revenue growth. BABA-WR (02715), a domestic industrial robot leader, rose over 6%. BABA-WR (02692), a maker of precision micro-drive gears, gained over 3%. BABA-WR (02252) surged over 7% after reporting strong results, including a forecast for its first-half net profit to be between 28 million and 40 million yuan, a significant turnaround from a loss of 115 million yuan in the same period last year, and a projected 200% to 230% increase in revenue. Tesla's robot progress is also accelerating. From August 2026, the Optimus humanoid robot will transition from a demonstration role to performing complex assembly tasks on existing vehicle production lines. The Gen3 Optimus will be produced at the Fremont factory in Q3, gradually taking over some assembly stations. A 1.73-meter tall Optimus has already been showcased in Berlin for logistics and home applications, with an external sale expected by late 2026 to early 2027. This points to continued interest in the Tesla supply chain, including names like BABA-WR (02050) and BABA-WR (00425).
While placings in Hong Kong usually lead to stock declines, BABA-WR (00290) has been consistently strengthening since announcing a placing that raised HKD 346 million on August 4th. The reason is the compelling use of funds: the company is acquiring a medical technology firm to solve the "application scenario" problem, plans to build a small-scale computing center in Hong Kong, and is exploring quantum computing applications in drug discovery and new materials. The stock surged nearly 12% today.
Focusing on the Sector
After a strong rebound in July, the Hang Seng Tech Index is poised for a potentially significant overhaul. Hang Seng Indexes Company is consulting on proposed revisions to the index, citing the expansion of the tech sector in the Hong Kong stock market. The proposed changes aim to broaden the index's tech theme, adjust the constituent stock selection mechanism, and increase the number of constituents to better reflect technological developments. Key changes include expanding the number of constituents from 30 to 50, introducing a dual-track stock selection mechanism, and revising the six tech themes to include areas like digital platforms, AI, advanced hardware, robotics, cloud computing, and frontier tech. This revision aims to address the index's low "tech" weighting. Under these new criteria, stocks like BABA-WR (03308) in the optical module space and PCB makers BABA-WR (02476) and BABA-WR (01888) have a high probability of being included.
Stock Highlight
BABA-WR (02715), a leader in industrial robots, is a key stock to watch. The company recently announced that its subsidiaries will acquire the remaining 100% of Estun Cootu for a cash consideration of RMB 487 million, integrating the company into its consolidated financial statements. The company has forecasted a net profit of RMB 150 million to RMB 180 million for the first half of the year, representing a significant turnaround from a small loss last year, driven by product mix optimization and cost control. This acquisition will enhance Estun's product portfolio. Estun Cootu has already developed two generations of humanoid robots and 17 high-end collaborative robots. The acquisition is designed to build a comprehensive product system covering heavy-duty industrial robots, lightweight collaborative robots, and embodied intelligent robots. The company's smart factory in Nanjing, which features "robots making robots," is a key asset. The industrial robot market is experiencing strong demand. In the first quarter, Estun's domestic shipment volume ranked first in the domestic market, and its profitability is improving. The overseas business is growing significantly, with Europe as the core engine. The overseas gross margin is over 30%, significantly higher than in China, making it a major profit growth driver for the next 2-3 years. The company's profit is expected to show strong growth. The company's market share is rising, and production continues to grow. In 2025, it shipped 33,400 robots, achieving a 10.6% market share, surpassing the foreign "Big Four" for the first time and ranking first among domestic brands for the eighth consecutive year. The order book is robust, with recent data showing orders on hand of approximately RMB 8.5 billion, up 67% year-on-year. Robot orders are up about 50%, maintaining high sentiment. Demand is strong across downstream segments, including automotive, 3C, and photovoltaics. The company's globalization is taking shape with its A+H listing and manufacturing plants in Europe. The company is highly vertically integrated, with core components 95% self-developed. The proportion of collaborative robots is increasing, and the overseas business is growing rapidly, with backlogs full. The gross margin is significantly higher than in China, providing a key source of profit elasticity. The robotics sector is recovering, and the company's strong interim earnings forecast is boosting confidence.
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