On December 2, 2024, the Hong Kong stock market closed higher. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.65%, the Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 1.20%.
In terms of sectors, the electric vehicle sector saw significant gains. GAC GROUP surged 25.17%, XPENG-W rose 5.06%, GEELY AUTO rose 4.04%, XIAOMI-W went up by 2.88%, and BYD COMPANY climbed 2.44%. The surge in share prices was driven by record-setting demand for electric vehicles in China. Additionally, XPeng, NIO, and Li Auto achieved new monthly delivery records in November, with strong demand expected to continue into December. GAC Group also signed a deepened cooperation agreement with Huawei to develop a new high-end intelligent electric vehicle brand, further boosting its stock price.
MINISO surged 18.22% after reporting a 22.8% year-on-year increase in revenue for the first three quarters of 2024, with a net profit increase of 11.6%.
BYD ELECTRONIC rose 11.29%.
KINGSOFT CLOUD surged 10.74% after signing a strategic cooperation agreement with Anheng Information to jointly explore the government cloud and state-owned enterprise cloud markets.
NONGFU SPRING increased by 8.31% following strong performance in its latest financial results.
MEITUAN-W saw a significant decline of 0.77% after reporting its third-quarter revenue and adjusted net profit, which did not meet market expectations.
Asia's largest manufacturing economies stepped up activity in November, with China's factories extending their recovery driven in part by Beijing's stimulus and a rush to export, though weak patches in other parts of the region pointed to some challenges.
Risks to global trade from a second Donald Trump presidency loomed large over factories as investors considered a series of purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs) published on Monday, which painted a mixed picture for Asia's export-reliant economies.
China's factory activity expanded at the fastest pace in five months in November as new orders, including those from abroad, led to a solid rise in production, the Caixin PMI showed.
That largely echoed a modest expansion in manufacturing activity seen in an official survey released on Saturday, suggesting a blitz of stimulus is finally trickling through to the world's second-largest economy.
The improvement in China helped other Asian factory powerhouses such as South Korea and Taiwan, where activity also picked up.
Xing Zhaopeng, ANZ's senior China strategist, said China's recovery has mostly been export-driven.
"Both new export orders in the official PMI and Caixin PMI suggest buyers were rushing to place orders. But the Chinese domestic demand was still weak as the official non-manufacturing PMI was 50," said Xing.
Many Chinese exporters are scrambling to get their goods to major markets ahead of tariffs from the U.S. and European Union, which are among several risks policymakers now need to navigate.
Beijing launched a series of major stimulus packages in the second half of this year to arrest a sharp slowdown in spending and production.
While analysts say more is still needed to sustain a sturdier recovery, there are signs this year's measures have had some effect with retail spending and the property market stabilising.
Overhanging those positive signs, however, is the threat posed to global trade by proposed tariffs from U.S. President-elect Trump, who enters the White House on Jan. 20 next year.
Trump has promised aggressive tariffs on major U.S. trading partners, notably China, in a push to revive American industry and employment.
Last week, he said he would impose a 10% tariff on Chinese goods so that Beijing does more to stop the trafficking of chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, which followed his earlier threats of tariffs in excess of 60% on Chinese goods.
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