Following the Federal Reserve's rate decision, risk appetite improved across Asian markets, pushing Hong Kong's three major stock indices higher. Semiconductor, optical communications, and AI application sectors led the gains, while mainland property stocks surged in the afternoon session. Automobile and banking shares, however, lagged behind. At the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 0.6% to 24,750.78 points, with total turnover reaching HK$266.513 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index advanced 2.2% to 4,405.5 points.

In the Hong Kong ETF space, among the top products by scale, Tracker Fund of Hong Kong (02800) gained 0.63% to close at HK$25.38. The CSOP SK Hynix Daily Leverage (2x) Product (07709) jumped 9.62% to HK$43.3, while CSOP Hang Seng TECH Index ETF (03033) added 2.42% to HK$4.32.

Nvidia's "Doubling" Outlook Sparks Rally

Nvidia's revised guidance reignited market sentiment, with overseas AI computing demand expectations being reaffirmed. This pushed communications and semiconductor ETFs higher across the board. By the close, the Hang Seng Tech ETF HuaBao (159131.SZ) climbed 4.48% to RMB 0.980, the STAR Chip Design ETF LGAN (588780.SH) rose 4.33% to RMB 0.988, and the STAR Semiconductor ETF ChinaAMC (588170.SH) advanced 4.09% to RMB 1.019.

On the news front, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed that driven by the accelerated adoption of AI, the company's chip sales are expected to double next year. He noted that the current bottleneck is not demand but production capacity. Meanwhile, cloud giant Nebius announced a comprehensive price increase for its GPU cloud services starting October 1, with an average hike of approximately 20% and a 17% rise for H100 instances. This marks another price adjustment within the year, further underscoring the tight supply-demand dynamics in computing power.

On the policy side, the State Council's executive meeting outlined plans for computing network construction, promoting the coordinated development of computing and electricity resources alongside network integration. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also released its "15th Five-Year Plan" for the information and communications industry, projecting industry revenue to reach RMB 4.1 trillion by 2030 and computing capacity to hit 9,800 EFLOPS. Orient Securities believes that iterative upgrades in domestic large language models will drive rapid growth in demand for domestic computing power and switching chips. Hu Yeh-Chien, chief electronics industry analyst at CITIC Securities, stated that order momentum in the semiconductor equipment supply chain is expected to improve further in Q3 2026, with the industry remaining optimistic about equipment demand over the next two to three years. In the medium to long term, advancements in advanced logic for independent control, 3D NAND architecture upgrades, HBM, and advanced packaging are likely to open up new equipment categories and expand value potential.

Official "Stock Era" Signal Fuels Property ETF Surge

Following the official acknowledgment of the "stock era," property ETFs moved sharply higher. By the close, the Real Estate ETF HuaBao (159707.SZ) gained 5.79% to RMB 0.493, the Real Estate ETF Yinhua (159768.SZ) rose 5.76% to RMB 0.441, and the Real Estate ETF ChinaAMC (515060.SH) advanced 3.86% to RMB 0.592.

At a State Council Information Office press conference on September 18, Zhang Xuetao, Director of the Real Estate Market Supervision Department under the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, highlighted two significant shifts in the property market. First, the supply-demand relationship has undergone major changes. Second, the market has transitioned into a "stock era," with second-hand home transactions rising from 27% of total sales in 2020 to 46% in 2025, and reaching 52% in the first eight months of this year—exceeding the 50% threshold that signals the arrival of the stock era. He also emphasized that sales of completed homes (cash sales) have become an inevitable trend. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the government will focus on advancing three foundational systems: the project company model, the lead bank system, and the cash sales model.

Guosen Securities noted that while August property fundamentals were generally weak, home price trends have been relatively positive. Given that current property stock valuations already discount future price declines to a sufficient or even overly pessimistic degree, the brokerage reiterated that the sector retains value and that shares are at a medium-term bottom, recommending investors increase positions after pullbacks. Huatai Securities pointed out that developers have exhibited balance sheet contraction across sales, expansion, and financing this year. As the industry transitions to a new model anchored by cash sales, the structure of corporate funding sources will be reshaped.

Institutional Perspectives

Wanlian Securities believes that with the Federal Reserve's rate hike, overseas macro liquidity has tightened. On September 17, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority raised its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% in response to the Fed's policy move. Domestic liquidity, however, remains accommodative. The brokerage suggests closely monitoring southbound capital flows and the transmission of Hong Kong's local monetary policy, while keeping an eye on major banks' rate adjustment plans and changes to the prime lending rate. Against the backdrop of tighter overseas liquidity and the release of the five-year plan, Wanlian recommends a short-term defensive stance in Hong Kong stock allocations while selectively focusing on structurally strong sectors.

New ETF Listings

The N300 Cash Flow ETF ChinaAMC (516040.SH) made its debut, closing down 0.1% at RMB 0.992 with turnover of RMB 61.4845 million. The fund tracks the CSI 300 Free Cash Flow Index, focusing on listed companies within the CSI 300 that exhibit high free cash flow ratios.

The ChiNext Computing Power ETF E Fund (158050.SZ) also launched, rising 1.78% to RMB 1.028 with turnover of RMB 883 million. Tracking the ChiNext Computing Power Infrastructure Index, the fund provides balanced exposure across the computing power value chain, including data centers, communications equipment, PCBs, storage, and liquid cooling.

Additionally, the ChiNext Composite Enhanced ETF (158022.SZ) debuted, gaining 1.5% to RMB 1.014 with turnover of RMB 98.9568 million. This fund tracks the ChiNext Composite Index, covering the entire ChiNext market with quantitative enhancement strategies.