Hong Kong stocks sank on Tuesday led by technology firms and carmakers, as investors resorted to profit-taking in the absence of strong catalysts, ignoring strong gains on Wall Street overnight.
The Hang Seng Index fell 2.4%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 3.8%.
In terms of star stocks, XPeng fell 7%; Xiaomi fell 6%; Li Auto and Bilibili fell 5%; Meituan, Alibaba, Kuaishou, and BYD fell 4%; JD.com and NIO fell 3%; Tencent, NetEase, SMIC, and Baidu fell 2%.
President Donald Trump said he will announce tariffs on automobile imports in the coming days — and indicated nations will receive breaks from next week’s “reciprocal” tariffs.
Trump’s comments at the White House Monday sowed further confusion about his plans for a sweeping tariff announcement scheduled for April 2. The president told reporters he planned to proceed with long-threatened auto import tariffs “fairly soon, over the next few days” ahead of the broader package.
Trump said his tariff roll-out next Wednesday would focus on so-called reciprocal duties, featuring rates on a country-by-country basis corresponding to tariffs and other trade barriers on US products. The president twice on Monday signaled trading partners would receive possible exemptions or reductions.
In terms of company news, China's 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.
The company sold 800 million shares at HK$53.25 each, the company said in its statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD's net profit leapt 73.1% in the fourth quarter of 2024 to a record 15 billion yuan ($2.1 billion), it said on Monday, reaping the rewards of lower prices and higher sales than rivals.
Fourth-quarter revenue was up 52.7% at 274.9 billion yuan, the company said in a stock market filing.
For the whole of last year, profit rose 34% to a record 40.3 billion yuan on revenue up 29%.
Kuaishou Technology is scheduled to report fourth-quarter results on Tuesday. The Beijing-based short-video app operator's fourth-quarter net profit likely rose 10.0% to 3.97 billion yuan, equivalent to $547.7 million, according to a poll of seven analysts by FactSet. Its adjusted net profit likely gained 6.9% to 4.66 billion yuan.
