Hong Kong's stock market experiences largest drop in two months due to China's economic prospects and trade disputes

Shares fell due to worries over China's economy and its trade relations with the US; Tencent, Orient Overseas and Haidilao saw a decrease of over 9 per cent on a weekly basis.

On Friday, the Hang Seng Index experienced a drop of 0.9 per cent, closing at 19,064.29. This represents a cumulative five-day loss of 3.5 per cent, marking the most significant fall since the week of November 15. The Tech Index also saw a decrease, with a 1.2 per cent drop, while the Shanghai Composite Index pulled back by 1.3 per cent.

Athletic apparel producer Li Ning saw a decrease of 4.8 per cent, dropping to HK$14.82, and China Life Insurance experienced a decline of 4.4 per cent, falling to HK$13.10. Meanwhile, the Alibaba Group's value diminished by 1.2 per cent, settling at HK$79.60. Computer manufacturer Lenovo also fell by 4.9 per cent to HK$9.34.

Tencent experienced a 1 per cent decrease in its stock value, falling to HK$369.60, despite a brief recovery on Thursday. In other news, the company also reduced its investment in merchant services provider Weimob from 8.4 per cent to 2.94 per cent, which led to a 41 per cent decline in Weimob's shares to HK$1.88.

The initial six months of the year could see significant fluctuations in the stock market, particularly due to the anticipated increase in tensions between the US and China following the inauguration of the new government, according to Edith Qian, a researcher at CGS International.

Two past two

Trump, referring to China, doesn't dismiss the possibility of utilizing military force to regain control of the Panama Canal and purchasing Greenland.

The stock market in Hong Kong experienced a loss of US$118 billion in value this week. Companies such as Tencent, shipping firm Orient Overseas, and Haidilao, a popular hotpot restaurant chain, endured a sell-off exceeding 9 per cent. Meanwhile, in China, the central bank announced on Friday that it would not purchase additional government bonds, perceived as a strategy to curb the devaluation of the yuan.

Bloks, a toy production company, saw an 82% increase in its first appearance on the Hong Kong market following a highly successful IPO debut. Retail investors from Hong Kong demonstrated significant interest, with the demand being 6,000 times greater than the shares they were assigned. This marks the second highest demand in history.

Stocks of the Chinese toy manufacturing company, Bloks Group, skyrocketed up to 82 percent during their first appearance in the Hong Kong market. This significant increase was due to the massive interest shown by individual and institutional investors in its initial public offering (IPO).

The stocks initially traded at HK$109.60, compared to the IPO price of HK$60.35, at the start of trading at 9.30am local time. Their value increased to a peak of HK$109.90 before settling at HK$85 on Friday, giving the manufacturer of Ultraman and Transformers toys a market cap of HK$20.8 billion (US$2.7 billion). The Hang Seng Index, however, decreased by 0.9 per cent.

The company based in Shanghai secured net proceeds of HK$1.6 billion by offering 27.7 million shares to investors. The IPO was priced at the higher limit of the HK$55.65 to HK$60.35 range, as evidenced by filings with the stock exchange.

Hong Kong's retail investors placed orders for shares that exceeded their allotment by 6,000 times, marking it as the second most popular IPO in the city since Most Kwai Chung, a media publishing company, received subscriptions 6,289 times over for its IPO in 2018. According to Bloks, international funds' bids were 38.6 times over.

"Dickie Wong, executive director at Kingston Securities, pointed out that investors were influenced by the achievements of other businesses in the toy and retail industries. He also suggested that the stock exchange's reduced IPO settlement cycles could have contributed to a surge in purchasing," he further commented.

Breaking News | TSMC severs connection with Singapore company due to chip discovered in Huawei processor: informants

The global leader in chip production has terminated its partnership with a Singaporean company following a client evaluation.

Since 2020, Huawei, a leading technology firm from China, has been completely banned by the United States, blocking its ability to use semiconductor factories globally. TSMC previously confirmed it has not delivered any products to Huawei from 2020 onwards. Further, Huawei has stated that they haven't manufactured any chips through TSMC after the US introduced corresponding sanctions.

Sophgo and its partner, Bitmain, a supplier of bitcoin mining equipment, have refuted any commercial ties with Huawei.

Efforts to contact PowerAIR have been futile as they lack an official website and there's no public information on their phone number or email address. Both TSMC and Huawei remained silent, failing to respond to a comment request made on Thursday.

Sunac China, a developer burdened with debt, is at risk of being dissolved in Hong Kong. A court session regarding this issue is planned for March 19.

A bankruptcy claim has been lodged against debt-ridden developer Sunac China Holdings in Hong Kong, even as it tries to reorganize its foreign debt for a second time. This is the most recent episode in the ongoing struggle of China's financially distressed real estate industry.

Shares of Sunac listed in Hong Kong dropped 26% to HK$1.30 by the end of trading on Friday, following a nearly 29% decrease earlier in the day.

The firm announced it would release a statement later on Friday, and China Cinda did not respond to a request for a comment.

The firm, positioned 18th in terms of sales among Chinese developers, has alerted some of its bondholders that it may fail to meet repayment deadlines for a dollar bond due in September. This bond was part of the initial batch of restructured notes, according to a Monday report by Reuters.

Sunac, which received judicial consent to reorganize its $9 billion worth of foreign bonds in late 2023, is reportedly preparing for a second debt restructuring, as per an individual with close ties to the company. This individual indicated that a suggestion regarding the restructuring could be presented by March's end.

Yonyou, a software company from China, appoints ex-senior executive from SAP as its new president. Huang Chenhong, a seasoned professional from multi-national corporations, is the latest addition to China's tech industry, amid a trend of these companies reducing their mainland operations.

Huang, who previously held the position of president at SAP Greater China, departed from the German company in October of the previous year. His exit came in the wake of the corporate software behemoth's decision to reshape its business structure in that area. This involved the consolidation of SAP's Greater China division and its Asia-Pacific and Japan unit, creating a fresh Asia-Pacific regional operation starting from the first day of the current year.

Huang's recruitment by Yonyou signifies an increasing pattern in China's tech sector, where local businesses are hiring seasoned executives from international corporations to enhance their industry knowledge.

Huang has an impressive history of leadership roles, including being the former chairman and president of Dell Greater China, as well as the president for Greater China at the power supply manufacturer, APC by Schneider Electric. He also held the position of president at the network technology company, Tellabs China. Huang holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University in the United States. This followed his completion of both a bachelor's and master's degree from Fudan University, located in Shanghai.

TSMC, the chip provider for Apple and Nvidia, has exceeded sales predictions, enhancing the projected growth of AI by 2025. The leading global contract chip producer saw a 39% increase in revenue, earning US$26.3 billion from October to December.

TSMC experienced a boost in growth in December, concluding with a 34 per cent increase in revenue for 2024. This is greater than TSMC's initial goal of a 30 per cent yearly increase, which was stated in US dollars. As the world's top contract producer of high-tech chips, TSMC has significantly profited from the worldwide competition to advance AI.

Candid economist Gao Shanwen departs his financial company in Hong Kong: insider information

Gao's authorization in Hong Kong expired last month, and he has ceased his employment at a city-based financial establishment, as per SFC documents.

Gao left his position following his inquiries about China's official economic expansion records last month.

The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) website indicates that Gao's permit to provide investment guidance as a representative for SDICS International Securities (Hong Kong) expired on December 31.

Gao is unable to perform any investment consultation services in Hong Kong since he doesn't have a principal, indicating he isn't employed by a finance company supervised by the SFC, as per the regulator's online information. Gao obtained his license in May 2012.

Gao's license became invalid due to his resignation from a financial company in Hong Kong, as per an individual in the know. This person also mentioned that Gao remains a part of the mainland branch of SDIC Securities, a finance company headquartered in Shenzhen.

SDIC Securities remained unresponsive to an email request for information, and there was no possibility to establish contact with Gao for his remarks.

During an investors' gathering in Shenzhen in December, he mentioned that China's economic growth numbers have been exaggerated by 3 percent each year for the last few years.

Huawei integrates WeChat into HarmonyOS, a crucial move to compete with Android and iOS in China. The Chinese firm, which has been sanctioned by the US, is aiming to host 100,000 apps on its independently created mobile operating system this year.

WeChat, boasting 1.38 billion monthly active users, has turned into a vital digital platform for users in mainland China. This makes it crucial for Huawei's ambition to challenge the prevailing market control of Google's Android and Apple's iOS in its local market.

In March of last year, Tencent designated a seasoned group to spearhead the creation of WeChat's HarmonyOS version, the firm announced on Wednesday. This group has been responsible for developing different versions of WeChat over time, including the version for Nokia's Symbian mobile operating system.

Huawei has been restructuring its consumer device sector following a significant drop in smartphone sales due to US sanctions. Prevented from using US-based technologies, the Chinese tech powerhouse has redoubled its attempts to lessen dependency on foreign software and hardware.

Alibaba's studio has withdrawn its leading game from Vivo's app store, following Tencent's similar action. This decision has been made in the backdrop of continuous disagreements between Chinese video game firms and smartphone companies over commission rates in the app store.

Lingxi Games, a subsidiary of Alibaba, announced earlier this week that the partnership between the strategy game, Three Kingdoms Tactics, and the Vivo app store has concluded, without providing further details. The game is set to be taken down on March 7, as per the announcement, and players will not be able to access the game via Vivo's app store thereafter.

The studio based in Guangzhou has issued an apology to its players for the disruption. The firm stated that players could request a refund for any game credits they haven't used.

Vivo chose not to provide any comments on Friday. Lingxi, a company that Alibaba took over in 2017, directed the South China Morning Post to a previous statement. The Post is owned by Alibaba.

Debuting in 2019, Three Kingdoms Tactics has proven to be a profitable venture, amassing over US$1 billion within its initial two years on the market. As of last November, it ranked as the eighth top-earning mobile game on Apple's China App Store, contributing to Lingxi's placement as the fifth highest-earning Chinese mobile game company globally, as per information from the analytics company, Sensor Tower.

Commentary | The role of AI bigwigs in facilitating a green energy shift for Asian providers

Companies such as Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia have the potential to fund eco-friendly energy, enhance the renewable energy capabilities of their suppliers, and lobby for improved regulations.

In May of last year, Microsoft reported a surge in its carbon footprint by around 30% since 2020. The tech giant partially blamed this on infrastructure and devices related to artificial intelligence (AI), including data centers and microchips. Then in July, Google disclosed a 48% rise in its emissions over the preceding five years. The company pointed to the unpredictable potential environmental effects of AI as a hurdle to their climate goals.

China's airline industry sees profit following four challenging years

After four financially draining years due to the pandemic, China's civil aviation industry bounced back into the green in 2024, marking the sector's initial profitable return.

In 2024, the sector decreased its deficits by 20.6 billion yuan (approximately US$2.8 billion) compared to the previous year, while also experiencing a 25% surge in overall traffic. This was revealed by Song Zhiyong, the Administrator of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), during an industry work meeting on Thursday.

He stated that this decrease was sufficient to pull the industry out of the red.

The primary objectives for civil aviation in 2025 include enhancing profit margins and ferrying 780 million passengers.

According to an article from the previous year, the state news service Xinhua reported that the industry would shift from a rapid rebound following the pandemic to consistent expansion in 2024. The main indicator of success would be a return to profit-making.

Song revealed that the sector surpassed expectations by ferrying a staggering 730 million passengers in the previous year. This was significantly higher than the prediction of 690 million, which was made during an industry meeting at the beginning of 2024.

Apple establishes a data-processing enterprise in Shanghai as their AI initiative in China remains uncertain. Apple's Shanghai division will concentrate on software development, extensive data services, storage services and data handling.

Tejas Kirit Gala, the leader of several Apple divisions in the nation, acts as the legal delegate for the new company. This new firm is fully owned by Apple South Asia, as per information from Tianyancha.

Apple did not provide a prompt response to a comment request on Friday.