Hong Kong's three major indices faced sustained pressure throughout the trading session, with the Hang Seng Index dipping below the 23,000-point mark at one stage. At the close, the Hang Seng Index was down 1.43%, or 335.27 points, at 23,076.91, with a total turnover of HK$3,257.85 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 2.02% to 7,608.38 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index declined 1.63% to 4,405.92 points.
Huatai Securities noted that for a broader reversal in the Hong Kong market, catalysts from major tech companies' AI progress and consumption recovery are still awaited, suggesting the timing is not yet optimal. CITIC Securities stated that looking ahead to the second half of 2026, a high number of listing applications and a long queue are expected to sustain the hot IPO market. Concurrently, the latter half of the year will see a peak in share lock-up expiries, with September facing the most significant pressure, particularly concentrated in sectors like software services, gold, and precious metals.
Blue-Chip Performance
Trip.com Group-S (09961) saw a sharp post-earnings decline, closing down 10.92% at HK$315 with a turnover of HK$3.168 billion, dragging the Hang Seng Index down by 16.36 points. The company reported its Q1 2026 results, with net operating revenue reaching RMB 16.208 billion, up 17.2% year-on-year, but net profit fell 41.6% to RMB 2.499 billion. Basic earnings per ordinary share were RMB 3.85. Adjusted EBITDA rose 13.7% to RMB 4.83 billion. The company guided for a slowdown in Q2 2026 total net revenue growth to approximately 3% to 8% year-on-year.
Among other blue-chips, Techtronic Industries (00669) rose 5.85% to HK$128.4, contributing 15.9 points to the index. Lenovo Group (00992) gained 4.62% to HK$23.98, adding 11.04 points. Lao Pu Gold (06181) dropped 8.1% to HK$367.8, weighing on the index by 3.22 points. China Molybdenum (03993) fell 7.52% to HK$15.5, dragging the index down by 7.22 points.
Sector Highlights
Major technology stocks mostly closed in negative territory, with Alibaba down over 4% and Tencent falling 1.73%. Stronger-than-expected earnings from Micron affirmed a super-cycle in memory, boosting storage-related concepts. Airline stocks rebounded collectively as oil prices retreated to pre-conflict levels. The PCB concept remained hot. Chinese brokerage stocks and select pharmaceutical shares were active. Conversely, gold stocks were hit hard again as prices fell below $4,000 for the first time in seven months. Coal, mainland bank, and oil stocks saw broad declines.
1. Storage Concepts Lead Gains
GigaDevice (03986) closed up 12.32% at HK$1,108. Montage Technology (06809) gained 6.69% to HK$459. Micron Technology's latest earnings report showed Q3 FY2026 revenue of $41.46 billion, a substantial 346% year-on-year increase, with a remarkable gross margin of 84.9%, both exceeding market expectations. Its Q4 guidance also surpassed forecasts, projecting adjusted revenue between $49 billion and $51 billion, above the consensus estimate of $43.24 billion. Micron's CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, stated on the earnings call that "due to AI demand across the entire ecosystem combined with structural supply constraints, we expect the tight supply-demand situation to persist beyond the 2027 calendar year."
2. Airline Stocks Rebound
China Eastern Airlines (00670) rose 7.53% to HK$3.57. Air China (00753) increased by 5.54% to HK$4.57. China Southern Airlines (01055) gained 4.90% to HK$3.64. On Wednesday, Brent crude oil touched a low of $73.12 per barrel, its lowest level since February 27, influenced by improved transit conditions in the Strait of Hormuz and a stronger US dollar index. US WTI crude futures also fell below $70 per barrel for the first time since March 2. Changjiang Securities noted that looking ahead, with the summer travel peak approaching post the national college entrance exams, private travel demand is expected to improve marginally. Coupled with a significant sequential drop in crude oil prices and an imminent substantial reduction in fuel surcharges, further stimulus for travel demand and a catalyst for recovery is anticipated.
3. PCB Concept Shines
Guanghe Technology (01989) surged 11.56% to HK$189.5. KB Laminates (01888) jumped 11.38% to HK$104.2. Han's CNC Technology (03200) advanced 6.08% to HK$195.5. On June 16, leading laminate manufacturer KB Laminates issued a new round of price increase notices, announcing a uniform 15% hike for all specifications of FR-4 laminates and PP prepreg, effective for new orders. This marks the company's fifth price increase this year, with cumulative increases of 68% for laminates and 84% for PP prepreg. Caixin Securities released a research report stating that the gradual introduction of new technologies and products like CoWoP and orthogonal backplanes is expected to further unlock value growth space for PCBs.
4. Gold Stocks Suffer Another Blow
SD Gold (01787) fell 8.04% to HK$17.62. Zijin Gold International (02259) dropped 7.05% to HK$92.95. Lingbao Gold (03330) declined 6.14% to HK$12.08. Chifeng Gold (06693) was down 4.96% at HK$23.4. Rising interest rate expectations boosted the US dollar, with the dollar index breaking above 101.6 to a 13-month high, pushing spot and futures gold prices below the $4,000 psychological level for the first time in seven months. Following Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, another international investment bank, BMO Capital Markets, lowered its gold price target. In its Q3 commodity outlook report, BMO expects the average gold price in the second half of this year to be around $4,625 per ounce, a 5% reduction from its previous forecast. Market attention is on the upcoming release of the US May PCE inflation report, a key inflation indicator closely watched by the Federal Reserve and crucial for short-term market assessments of the Fed's policy path.
5. Mainland Bank Stocks Under Pressure
Bank of China (03988) fell 5.31% to HK$4.99. Agricultural Bank of China (01288) declined 2.87% to HK$5.42. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (01398) dropped 2.07% to HK$6.63. On June 23, the National Audit Office reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on the audit of the execution of the central budget and other fiscal revenues and expenditures for 2025, naming approximately seven financial institutions. Among them, Agricultural Bank of China was cited for lax pre-loan review, improperly issuing loans totaling RMB 11.066 billion to non-high-standard farmland projects, with some funds misappropriated for purchasing wealth management products and repaying debts. Bank of China was noted for exploiting tax exemption policies for public funds to evade taxes amounting to RMB 2.367 billion.
Notable Movers
Maxieye (02431) showed strong momentum, closing up 15.14% at HK$10.34. On June 24, Maxieye announced the formal signing of a product sales contract for unmanned logistics vehicles with an independent third-party enterprise in Henan Province. The agreement involves the procurement of 500 unmanned logistics vehicles, accompanied by autonomous driving technology services, with the delivered products primarily intended for use in scenarios such as park logistics, supermarkets, and last-mile delivery.
Biren Technology (06082) hit a new high, closing up 13.33% at HK$68.0. A DBS research report pointed out that Biren Technology is a leading domestic general-purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) designer in China, with products covering complete solutions for AI training and inference, positioning it to benefit from the structural opportunity presented by the significant expansion in capital expenditure by Chinese cloud service providers (CSPs).
Sa Sa International (00178) rose post-earnings, closing up 13.25% at HK$0.94. The company released its annual results for the period ended March 31, 2026, at midday, showing revenue from continuing operations of HK$4.383 billion, a year-on-year increase of 14.16%. Profit attributable to shareholders was HK$200.5 million, surging 160.47% year-on-year. The board proposed a final dividend of 3.4 HK cents per share and a special final dividend of 1.9 HK cents per share.
Evergrande Property Services (06666) plunged in the afternoon session, closing down 23.53% at HK$0.78. The company announced at midday that it had been informed by the liquidators that negotiations between the potential seller and the potential buyer had been terminated, with no formal or legally binding sale and purchase agreement entered into regarding the potential transaction. The liquidators are actively engaging in ongoing discussions with their financial advisors to seek other potential buyers for the controlling stake in the company held by China Evergrande and CEG Holdings.
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