Hong Kong's three major stock indices declined in morning trading on September 23. At the midday close, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.76% to 24,896.04, the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.97%, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slipped 0.73%.
Internet and tech stocks were broadly lower, with Alibaba, Xiaomi, and Tencent each falling more than 2%. PCB concept stocks led gains, with Kingboard Laminates surging over 5%. Property developer stocks showed notable strength, as Ronshine China climbed more than 19%. Application software shares were among the weakest performers, with Zhipu dropping over 6%.
PCB concept names outperformed, with Kingboard Laminates up more than 5%. Multiple institutions noted in recent research reports that as upstream raw material prices continue to rise, downstream PCB manufacturers have recently begun re-quoting prices. This move signals that the cost transmission mechanism—from upstream raw materials and midstream copper-clad laminates to downstream PCB producers—has been fully established. Market consensus suggests that the third quarter of 2026 will mark a genuine inflection point for profitability improvement across the entire supply chain.
Property developer stocks were strong, with Ronshine China gaining over 19%. Kaiyuan Securities stated that following the "August 28 package of new policies," local authorities are intensively evaluating and providing feedback, with clearer implementation details expected across regions by the fourth quarter of 2026. The brokerage added that after these policy measures, the real estate sector's foundational systems have undergone major reforms, steering the industry toward more stable and solid development. On the demand side, the institution believes there remains significant room for relaxation in areas such as easing restrictive policies in core cities, provident fund loans, and urban renewal. If policy intensity and implementation pace are further strengthened, the process of stabilizing and recovering the property market could accelerate, and the firm maintains a "positive" rating on the sector.
Application software stocks led declines, with Zhipu falling more than 6%. Two leading U.S. AI laboratories launched low-cost versions of their flagship models on the same day. On Tuesday, Anthropic released its new-generation model Claude Opus 5.5, with usage costs approximately 40% lower than the previous version. Meanwhile, OpenAI introduced two budget-tier versions of ChatGPT-6, named Sol and Luna, priced 50% lower than the ChatGPT-5.6 series. Additionally, foreign media reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek will brief the United Nations Security Council this week on the risks posed by artificial intelligence.
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