US stocks closed lower on Wednesday. Federal Reserve Chair Walsh, speaking at the central bank's annual conference, indicated that no forward guidance on interest rates would be provided and reiterated the Fed's commitment to returning inflation to its 2% target. This boosted market expectations for further rate hikes, weighing on the broader market and leading to a decline across all three major indices. The US dollar remained strong, and the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note climbed back to around 4.48%. Gold prices strengthened, while oil prices continued to retreat.
Today, Hong Kong's three major stock indices opened collectively higher. The Hang Seng Index started the session up 0.83% at 23,071.43 points, the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1.25%, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose by 0.73%. In terms of sector performance, technology stocks saw broad-based gains. Baidu Inc surged over 4%, while Bilibili Inc, Kuaishou Technology, Xiaomi Corp, and JD.com Inc all rose more than 3%. Robotics-related concept stocks opened higher, with Estun Automation jumping over 11%. Gold stocks generally advanced, with Zijin Mining Group International up more than 3%. Chinese brokerage stocks were active, with China Merchants Securities Co Ltd gaining over 5%. The optical communication sector opened lower, with Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Ltd dropping over 10%. Chip stocks fell, with GigaDevice Semiconductor Inc plunging more than 12%. Anker Innovations Technology Co Ltd made its market debut today, opening slightly down by 0.02%.
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