The CEO of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has responded to discussions regarding "strict controls on sponsor quality for Hong Kong IPOs." The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission recently issued a circular expressing significant concern over issues arising during the anticipated surge in new listing applications in 2025. These issues include serious deficiencies in the preparation of some listing documents, potential misconduct by sponsors, and major failures in their resource management. HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan stated she particularly welcomes the SFC's circular, describing it as a "friendly reminder." Chan emphasized that the SFC's focus is on the quality of materials submitted by sponsors, which is separate from the information provided by the listing applicants themselves. The exchange consistently views quality as its foundation for attracting global investors. Against the backdrop of strong IPO application momentum, this circular will help ensure HKEX maintains efficient service levels, allowing the market to welcome more high-quality listings.
Memory chip and AI application stocks led the declines, with SanDisk dropping nearly 16%. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 260.31 points to close at 49,501.3, a gain of 0.53%. The S&P 500 index fell 35.09 points to 6,882.72, a decline of 0.51%. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 350.61 points to 22,904.72, falling 1.51%. Most major tech stocks declined; AMD fell over 17%, while Nvidia, Tesla, Broadcom, and Meta each dropped more than 3%. Alphabet and Amazon declined over 2%, while Apple rose more than 2%. Following earnings reports, Alphabet's Class A shares fell nearly 1% after hours, Arm dropped 9%, Qualcomm fell 8%, and Snap rose 5%. Memory chip and AI application stocks were among the biggest decliners; SanDisk fell nearly 16%, Micron Technology dropped over 9%, Western Digital declined over 7%, Palantir fell over 11%, and AppLovin plunged over 16%. Popular U.S.-listed Chinese stocks generally fell, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closing down 1.95%. The Hang Seng Index ADRs also declined, calculated proportionally to close at 26,513.11 points, down 334.21 points or 1.24% from the Hong Kong market close.
International oil prices rose on February 4th. At the close, the NYMEX WTI crude oil continuous contract for the current month increased by $1.26 to settle at $64.47 per barrel, a gain of 1.99%. The COMEX gold continuous contract for the current month rose by $51.40, or 1.04%, to $4,986.4 per ounce. The COMEX silver continuous contract for the current month climbed $4.46, or 5.36%, to $87.765 per ounce. Spot gold increased by $17.27, or 0.35%, to $4,964.31 per ounce. Spot silver rose by $3.12, or 3.67%, to $88.2 per ounce.
Some of Indonesia's largest coal producers have reportedly been exempted from the government's production cut policy. Major Indonesian coal companies have received approval to be unaffected by the government's production quota reduction plan, with the burden of cuts falling primarily on smaller mines. Bumi Resources, PT Adaro Andalan Indonesia, and Indika Energy all received their full applied coal mining quotas for this year, totaling approximately 170 million tonnes. As the world's largest exporter of thermal coal for power plants, Indonesia plans to cut coal output by nearly a quarter this year to about 600 million tonnes to support prices. The Indonesian Coal Mining Association stated last week that cuts at individual mines could range from 40% to 70%, warning that this might make operations unsustainable for some mines, potentially triggering large-scale layoffs and loan defaults. Note: China imported approximately 210 million tonnes of thermal coal from Indonesia in 2025, accounting for 47% of Indonesia's total exports. Based on this proportion, strict enforcement of production quotas by Indonesia could affect Chinese coal imports by 37.6 to 42.3 million tonnes. This involves Hong Kong-listed coal sector companies such as Yankuang Energy (01171), Yancoal Australia (03668), China Coal Energy (01898), Leri Development (01277), China Shenhua Energy (01088), China Qinfa (00866), and Mongol Mining (00975).
China International Marine Containers Group has signed an agreement for an integrated steel and coking project in Indonesia. On February 4th, according to CIMC, its subsidiary CIMC ENRIC signed a joint venture agreement with Tsingshan Holding Group and Nanjing Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., along with a coke oven gas supply agreement, to jointly advance a "coke oven gas to LNG co-producing methanol" project located within the Tsingshan Industrial Park in Morowali, Indonesia. This project, controlled by CIMC ENRIC, has a designed annual capacity of 180,000 tonnes of blue LNG and 100,000 tonnes of blue methanol.
GCL Group confirmed that a team from Elon Musk's company visited for an inspection today. On February 4th, regarding rumors that a team from Elon Musk's SpaceX, among other companies, recently visited several Chinese photovoltaic enterprises, a responsible person from GCL Group responded to a Securities Times reporter in the evening, stating that a team from Musk's company visited GCL Group today. The team gained an understanding of GCL's granular silicon and perovskite business operations in the United States. This involves the Hong Kong-listed company GCL TECH (03800).
JD.com (09618) announced an import doubling plan, aiming to introduce 1,000 new overseas brands over the next three years. JD.com's SEC committee member and Chief Compliance Officer, He Chengfeng, stated at the "Shared Large Market · Export to China" Beijing International Premium Products Launch event on the 4th that JD will leverage its "super supply chain" advantage to implement an import multiplication plan. Over the next three years, through methods like overseas direct purchasing and cross-border e-commerce, JD plans to introduce over 1,000 new overseas brands and help them double their sales in the Chinese market.
Shanghai Pharmaceuticals (02607) plans to publicly list the transfer of its 30% stake in Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for a base price of 1.023 billion yuan. Shanghai Pharmaceuticals announced its intention to transfer its 30% equity stake in Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Ltd. through a public listing on a property rights exchange. The minimum listing price is no less than RMB 1,023.192 million, subject to completing relevant state-owned asset evaluation procedures. The final transfer price will be determined by the public listing outcome. The transaction has been approved by the company's board of directors but still requires completion of the public listing process on the exchange. It does not constitute a major asset reorganization. The transferee and final transaction price are currently undetermined, introducing uncertainty.
The bidding war for Evergrande Property Services (06666) is heating up, with two potential buyers emerging. A February 2nd report from Caixin indicated that PAG and Guangdong Provincial Tourism Holding Group Co., Ltd. have approached the liquidators of China Evergrande Group expressing interest in acquiring a stake in Evergrande Property Services. Several days prior, market rumors suggested that Trustar Capital, under CITIC Capital, was also a potential bidder. On February 3rd, regarding the news of acquiring Evergrande Property Services shares, a representative from PAG declined to comment. Inquiries were also sent to Trustar Capital, Guangdong Tourism Holding, and China Evergrande's liquidators, with no response received by the publication deadline. Evergrande Property Services stated that all information should be based on official announcements.
Documents show that Tianqi Lithium has adjusted the conversion price for its 2.6 billion yuan zero-coupon convertible bonds. Transaction documents reveal that Tianqi Lithium set the initial conversion price for its planned issuance of 2.6 billion yuan zero-coupon convertible bonds at HKD 51.85. The conversion price was initially set at HKD 49.56.
Yum China (09987) reported an 11% increase in operating profit for 2025. Yum China announced that its full-year 2025 operating profit grew 11% year-on-year to $1.3 billion, with diluted earnings per share increasing 8% to $2.51. System sales in the fourth quarter grew 7% year-on-year, with same-store sales increasing 3%. The company added a net number of new stores for the full year, bringing the total store count to a specific figure. Fourth-quarter operating profit surged 25% to $187 million. The company plans to return $1.5 billion to shareholders in 2026 and increase its dividend by 21%. The proportion of delivery sales to restaurant revenue improved, and membership numbers grew 13% to a specified figure.
Innovent Biologics (01801) reported product revenue of approximately RMB 11.9 billion for 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of about 45%. Innovent Biologics announced that for the full year 2025, the company achieved total product revenue of approximately RMB 11.9 billion, maintaining strong growth momentum of about 45% year-on-year. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the company generated total product revenue of approximately RMB 3.3 billion, an increase of over 60% compared to the same period last year.
Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing (02314) expects 2025 profit to be between HK$1.88 billion and HK$2.0 billion, a year-on-year increase of 38% to 47%. Lee & Man Paper Manufacturing announced on the Hong Kong Exchange that the group expects to achieve a profit of approximately HK$1.88 billion to HK$2.0 billion for 2025, representing growth of 38% to 47% compared to the previous year. This profit growth is primarily attributed to an increase in the group's margin. On January 29th, Citi published a research report upgrading Lee & Man Paper's investment rating from "Sell" to "Buy" and raising its target price from HK$2.4 to HK$4.2. This adjustment is primarily based on the judgment that the profit cycle for the paper industry has bottomed out and is gradually improving. Lee & Man Paper's current price represents a forward P/E of 8 times and offers a 4.2% dividend yield, making its valuation attractive. The report noted that while Lee & Man Paper's own profit growth magnitude might not match that of its peer Nine Dragons Paper, the recent profit warning issued by Nine Dragons Paper signals a key point: the overall profitability of the paper industry is not expected to worsen further in the second half of 2025 compared to the first half. Citi analysts therefore believe the most challenging period for industry profits may have passed, with moderate improvements expected in the future.
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