Hong Kong's three major indices opened higher and fluctuated during the session, with afternoon gains narrowing, as falling US Treasury yields and lower oil prices improved market risk sentiment. At the close, the Hang Seng Index rose 0.18% or 45.04 points to 25,087.75 points, with total turnover reaching HK$249.214 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 0.28% to 8,362.6 points, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.34% to 4,438.21 points.

A brokerage view suggests Hong Kong stocks are currently in a slight rebound trend, closer to short-covering after overseas negative factors have landed rather than an improvement based on fundamentals. It believes overseas risks cannot be cleared in one go and will continue to cause repeated disturbances, recommending a neutral and dynamic allocation stance toward Hong Kong stocks. While the rebound deserves attention, chasing highs should be done cautiously, as a clear turning point still requires fundamental improvement.

Leading Blue-Chip Performance

TENCENT (00700) led the blue-chip gains, closing up 5.02% at HK$451.6 with turnover of HK$32.166 billion. Meta's AI assistant Muse achieved phenomenal popularity within just two weeks of launch. Drawing parallels to Muse's development logic overseas, institutions believe TENCENT holds a natural advantageous position in the consumer-grade agent track, given its WeChat ecosystem integrates social relationship chains, official account and video account content matrices, mini-program light application clusters, WeChat Pay, and an industry-wide merchant network.

Among other blue-chips, Lenovo Group (00992) rose 2.8% to HK$36.74, Alibaba-W (09988) gained 1.95% to HK$114.8, Xinyi Solar (00968) fell 2.95% to HK$1.975, and Alibaba Health (00241) dropped 2.9% to HK$2.845.

Hot Sector Overview

Most large tech and internet stocks moved higher, with Meta's AI agent Muse topping the free app charts on the US App Store, lifting AI-concept stocks. At the Cloud Summit, Pingtouge released a new-generation AI chip, Zhenwu V900, and Alibaba rose more than 5% in the morning session. Separately, China approved five city clusters for comprehensive hydrogen energy application pilots, driving hydrogen energy concept stocks higher in the afternoon. On the other side, Fed officials again struck a hawkish tone and gold prices fell overnight, causing gold stocks to decline collectively. Express delivery, logistics, and mainland property stocks also came under pressure.

The AI agent Muse ignited CPU-related market activity. By the close, MONTAGE TECH (06809) rose 8.1% to HK$309.6, while Guanghe Technology (01989) advanced 6.91% to HK$131.5. After Muse's release earlier this month, it quickly topped the free app rankings on Apple's App Store, rekindling market enthusiasm for CPU makers and driving sharp gains in overseas chip stocks like Intel and Arm overnight. Analysts point out that the proliferation of AI agents will raise inference and infrastructure loads, benefiting server CPU demand. Notably, Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan previously stated that CPU demand is growing rapidly, leading to tight supply-demand conditions, and that shortages may persist as AI applications develop. With CPU usage increasing in the Agentic AI era, demand for memory interconnect chips is expected to rise. MONTAGE TECH boasts a rich interconnect chip product matrix and held a 36.8% market share in 2024. Between 2022 and 2024, Guanghe Technology ranked first among CPU motherboard PCB (for computing servers) manufacturers headquartered in mainland China and third globally, with a 12.4% global market share by cumulative revenue.

Hydrogen energy concept stocks moved higher in the afternoon. By the close, GUOFUHEE (02582) surged 11.11% to HK$4.9, and SinoHy Key Technology (02402) rose 5.58% to HK$10.98. Recently, China formally approved five city clusters for comprehensive hydrogen energy application pilots, marking a new chapter of large-scale development for the country's hydrogen industry. These five city clusters include two focused primarily on fuel cell vehicles — the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Greater Bay Area — and three focused primarily on industrial applications — the Northeast-Yangtze River Delta, Xinjiang-Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone, and the Yellow River Bend-Central Plains. A brokerage research report suggests that looking ahead to the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the hydrogen industry is expected to evolve deeply toward scale and commercialization.

Gold stocks continued to face pressure. By the close, LBGOLD (03330) dropped 5.77% to HK$21.88, Zijin Gold International (02259) fell 5.1% to HK$146.9, and Shandong Gold (01787) declined 3.75% to HK$21.56. Another Fed official adopted a hawkish stance. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said Monday that due to strong demand and commodity price shocks that have spread beyond oil, the Fed may need to raise interest rates further to reduce inflation. He also emphasized that the Fed should act as soon as possible rather than wait. A futures firm noted that after the September rate cut, short-term markets lack a single new macro narrative, and gold's sensitivity to US Treasury real yields, the US dollar, and Fed officials' speeches may increase again.

Mainland property stocks were mixed. By the close, China Vanke (02202) gained 1.21% to HK$2.5, Jinhui Holdings (09993) fell 4.91% to HK$1.065, and Sunac China (01918) dropped 4.38% to HK$0.655. A brokerage noted that investment in the development business can be divided into three strategies: first, on the upside of the property cycle's right side, the entire sector benefits, but this requires a rightward shift of the aggregate demand curve rather than just stabilization indicators in first-tier cities; second, company alpha during market downturns requires catalysts rather than simply low valuations; third, policy-driven episodic rallies are mainly based on policy speculation. Currently, cyclical upside and alpha-searching opportunities remain unclear, while policy speculation remains an important observation direction, with high-beta targets showing higher average backtested returns but also greater drawdown risks.

Notable Stock Movements

LIGENT (09856) debuted on its first day of listing, closing up 4.61% at HK$34.48. LIGENT is an established optical communications and optical connectivity product supplier, dedicated to the R&D, manufacturing, and sales of optical modules, optical chips, and optical network terminals, serving domestic and international customers. Based on 2025 global optical module revenue, the company ranks fifth among global professional optical module manufacturers with a market share of approximately 4%. The global offering comprised 172 million shares at an offer price of HK$32.96 per share, with net proceeds of approximately HK$5.445 billion.

BOYAA (00434) continued its climb, closing up 8.33% at HK$3.38. Bitcoin briefly broke through US$86,000, hitting an eight-month high. The company announced on the evening of September 21 that during the past week, it purchased approximately 152 bitcoins in the open market for a total consideration of about HK$90.63 million, at an average cost of approximately US$75,899 per coin. Upon completion, the group holds approximately 4,468 bitcoins at an average cost of about US$68,543 per coin.

LYGEND RESOURCE (02245) rallied in the afternoon, closing up 8.58% at HK$18.6. The company's A-share IPO completed online subscription on September 18. An announcement on the evening of September 20 showed approximately 17.146 million valid online subscription accounts, with an initial effective subscription multiple of 6,293.47 times, triggering the clawback mechanism. After clawback, the final online offering increased to 121 million shares, with a lottery rate of approximately 0.037%. Separately, it was reported that Indonesia's nickel hub will see production cuts due to drought caused by El Nino.

Huabao International (00336) fluctuated higher, closing up 4.53% at HK$3.695. On July 28 this year, the mandatory national standard for Heated Tobacco Products (draft for comments) was released, with the comment period ending September 26 and expected formal implementation six months after publication. A brokerage believes that the public comment period for the mandatory national standard signals the gradual advancement of the domestic HNB regulatory admission process.

Schuan Xinhua Winshare (00811) opened higher but closed lower, finishing up 1.8% at HK$8.205. The company announced plans to use its own funds to acquire a 100% stake in Sichuan Minzu Publishing House Co., Ltd. from its controlling shareholder Sichuan Xinhua Publishing & Distribution Group at a purchase price of RMB 346 million. The transaction constitutes a related-party transaction but does not constitute a major asset restructuring.