To The Moon

Hong Kong's stock market opened with a broad decline on Thursday, with all three major indices starting the session in negative territory. The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.94% to 24,480.57 points at the open. Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.03%, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slipped 0.97%.

The bearish start follows a downbeat performance on Wall Street overnight. As widely anticipated, the Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point, but the accompanying dot plot indicated the possibility of another rate hike before year-end. This dampened market sentiment, causing all three major U.S. indices to close in the red. The dollar strengthened, while the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note climbed to around 5.02%. Gold prices came under pressure, and oil prices retreated from recent highs.

In sector-specific trading on the Hong Kong exchange, technology and internet stocks were broadly weaker. TENCENT, BIDU, MEITUAN, XIAOMI-W, KUAISHOU-W, NTES, JD-SW, and BABA-W each declined by more than 1%. On the other hand, memory and storage concept stocks showed some resilience, with Jiangbolong rising over 1%. Conversely, gold stocks took a hit, as Lingbao Gold tumbled more than 3%, and oil-related shares also lost ground, with CNOOC falling over 1%.

Market participants are now closely monitoring how these external factors will shape trading momentum throughout the session, as uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy continues to weigh on investor confidence globally.