Hong Kong shares rose on Wednesday, buoyed by a rally in Chinese electric-car makers while technology stocks also rebounded.
The Hang Seng Index rose 0.6%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1%.
In terms of star stocks, Everg Vehicle rose 75%; Pop Mart rose 11%; Haidilao rose 6%; Li Auto rose 3%; BYD, XPeng, JD.com, SMIC, and NIO rose 2%; Alibaba, Baidu, and Xiaomi rose 1%; Tencent rose 0.9%; Kuaishou fell 2%; Nongfu Spring fell 8%.
Wall Street investment banks stepped up their bullish calls on Chinese equities as Morgan Stanley upgraded its target for a second time in as many months and Goldman Sachs said feedback from clients signalled global interest is at the highest level since the market’s previous peak four years ago.
Buying sentiment has improved since analysts at Deutsche Bank published its “China eats the world” report early last month, and global peers chimed in to recommend the market. DeepSeek’s artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough in January helped spark a trillion-dollar rout in US tech stocks and swing fund flows to the region, they said.
In terms of company news, Kuaishou Technology said artificial intelligence is what will drive users to its video platform after posting its slowest quarterly sales growth since its 2021 listing. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 8.7% to 35.4 billion yuan, meeting the 35.7 billion yuan estimated by analysts.
Nongfu Spring reported the slowest annual profit growth since its 2020 listing after the Chinese company’s packaged drinking water products were the subject of negative publicity last year.
Pop Mart said it will continue to expand its global footprint with focus on North America and Europe, after reporting profit that more than doubled last year thanks to the popularity of its Labubu dolls adored by celebrities.
BYD aims to double its sales outside China to over 800,000 cars in 2025 and will look to overcome tariffs by assembling cars locally, its chairman told analysts on an earnings call on Tuesday.
Xiaomi said on Tuesday it had raised $5.5 billion in an upsized share sale as the company pushes forward with its ambitious electric vehicle manufacturing plans, send its shares down 6.3% on Tuesday.
One of the biggest highlights in the market today was Everg Vehicle’s sharp surge of 230% at one point before paring gains.
On the news front, rumors circulated that GAC and Huawei had partnered to establish HuaWang Automotive Technology in Nansha, allegedly taking over the Hengchi project. In response, media inquiries to GAC’s Board Secretary Office were met with clarification that the GAC GH project is a light-asset operation company that will prioritize leveraging the production capacity of the Aion and Trumpchi brands. The company further stated, "Do not believe any rumors. Please refer to official announcements."
Sources said that XPeng is planning at least five range-extended models, including sedans and SUVs. XPeng VP Chen Yonghai called the report inaccurate. "Some models won’t have range extension, while others will". He added that XPeng will consider factors like domestic vs. overseas markets, vehicle size, and user scenarios when making desicion.
The Chinese restaurant operator Haidilao posted 2024 results surpassed market expectations. Its net profit for the full year rose 4.6% to 4.71 billion yuan, while revenue increased 3.1% to 42.75 billion yuan.
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