[ET Net News Agency, 18 August 2026] US 30-year Treasury yields broke through 5.3%, hitting the highest level since the financial tsunami. Ahead of the key tech enterprise earnings, Hong Kong stocks weakened following US stock performance. The HSI closed the half-day at 25,287, down 165 points or 0.7%, with main board turnover exceeding HKD 136.5 billion. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index stood at 8,387, down 52 points or 0.6%. The HSI Tech Index closed at 4,686, down 95 points or 2%.
"Kwok Ka Yiu: High-yield stocks support the broader market"
After rebounding by more than 300 points yesterday, Hong Kong stocks lacked momentum in their movement today. Kwok Ka Yiu, the Director of Business Development at Harbour Family Office, told ET Net News Agency that after the rebound in July, the broader market lacked new positive factors, resulting in weak market performance. Kwok Ka Yiu pointed out that the earlier rebound was mainly driven by lower valuations of Hong Kong stocks and the repatriation of capital following position unwinding in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan markets. However, related unwinding activities have largely been completed, and to attract external capital again, Hong Kong stocks need to possess unique attractiveness, yet no new positive catalysts are currently seen.
In addition, Kwok Ka Yiu stated that Hong Kong stocks are currently facing multiple pressures. Firstly, although rate-hike expectations have cooled down, the market still maintains reserved opinions on rate-hike expectations, and the possibility of interest rate hikes before the end of this year cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, the "troika" data recently announced by Mainland China authorities generally performed worse than expectations, and authorities maintained a conservative stance without introducing new measures to prop up the market. Moreover, coinciding with the corporate earnings season recently, although the performance of major enterprises has been fair to middling, the market still worries that heavyweight tech and internet stocks fail to keep up with the AI wave, compounded by increased capital expenditures lowering cash flows and unclear investment return prospects, leading to relatively sluggish share price performance of tech and internet stocks recently.
However, as the market capitalisation of Hong Kong stocks is generally relatively cheap, and the craze for heavily hyped hardware stocks has cooled down, pressure on Hong Kong stocks has been somewhat eased. Coupled with the relatively large number of high-yield stocks in Hong Kong stocks, this helps attract capital to support the broader market in the current environment. Therefore, Kwok Ka Yiu believes that the chance of a sharp downside correction in Hong Kong stocks is low, and expects Hong Kong stocks to trade sideways in the 25,000 to 26,000 points level recently.
"HSI Tech Index plans expansion, related concept stocks advised to trade the momentum"
Hang Seng Indexes Company previously launched a market consultation on the revision proposals for the HSI Tech Index. Proposals include increasing the number of constituent stocks to 50, expanding the technology theme scope of the index, and adjusting the constituent stock selection mechanism, with the consultation period ending on 18 September. CICC released a research report pointing out that hardware technology stocks are expected to take a dominant role, such as Iluvatar CoreX (09903), KB Laminates (01888), GDS (09698), and Biren Tech (06082).
Previously, two GPU concept stocks, Biren Tech and Iluvatar CoreX, issued positive profit alerts respectively. Biren Tech expects a net loss of HKD 320 million to HKD 400 million for the interim period ending mid-June, narrowing significantly from a net loss of HKD 1.6 billion in the previous year. Iluvatar CoreX even expects to turn a profit from a loss for the interim period ending mid-June, earning HKD 60 million to HKD 140 million, compared to a loss of HKD 610 million in the same period last year.
Kwok Ka Yiu pointed out that constituent stocks of the HSI Tech Index were previously dominated by platform-type companies. However, due to weak consumption in Mainland China, growth momentum in businesses such as gaming, platforms, and food delivery is relatively weak, making it difficult to drive the index. Therefore, the expansion direction tending towards hardware companies benefiting from the AI investment wave is a reasonable choice. However, many enterprises in this sector of Hong Kong stocks have relatively high earnings volatility or are even not yet profitable. He believes that the immediate help to drive the index after expansion will be limited, and may even increase the volatility of the index.
Kwok Ka Yiu stated that such shares may have speculative opportunities before expansion, but the market's grasp of these shares is not high, and they should be regarded as short-term deployments, with a strategy focused on diversification recommended. Wan Kong Shing, the Chief Investment Officer of iFAST Global Markets, also took Iluvatar CoreX and Biren Tech as examples, pointing out that although the two stocks previously issued positive profit alerts, their earnings are still not stable, and their GPU businesses are not particularly prominent. Their fundamental trends are difficult to estimate, and therefore if one wishes to deploy, the strategy should be short-term "trading the momentum".
Regarding technical deployment, Wan Kong Shing stated that the support level for Iluvatar CoreX is currently around HKD 388. If it can be hyped up by news, it can target the neckline position of HKD 495, but it must be remembered to cut losses at HKD 363. The support level for Biren Tech is at HKD 35.5, with an upside target of HKD 58, and the stop-loss set around HKD 33.
"Kwok Ka Yiu: High-yield stocks support the broader market"
After rebounding by more than 300 points yesterday, Hong Kong stocks lacked momentum in their movement today. Kwok Ka Yiu, the Director of Business Development at Harbour Family Office, told ET Net News Agency that after the rebound in July, the broader market lacked new positive factors, resulting in weak market performance. Kwok Ka Yiu pointed out that the earlier rebound was mainly driven by lower valuations of Hong Kong stocks and the repatriation of capital following position unwinding in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan markets. However, related unwinding activities have largely been completed, and to attract external capital again, Hong Kong stocks need to possess unique attractiveness, yet no new positive catalysts are currently seen.
In addition, Kwok Ka Yiu stated that Hong Kong stocks are currently facing multiple pressures. Firstly, although rate-hike expectations have cooled down, the market still maintains reserved opinions on rate-hike expectations, and the possibility of interest rate hikes before the end of this year cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, the "troika" data recently announced by Mainland China authorities generally performed worse than expectations, and authorities maintained a conservative stance without introducing new measures to prop up the market. Moreover, coinciding with the corporate earnings season recently, although the performance of major enterprises has been fair to middling, the market still worries that heavyweight tech and internet stocks fail to keep up with the AI wave, compounded by increased capital expenditures lowering cash flows and unclear investment return prospects, leading to relatively sluggish share price performance of tech and internet stocks recently.
However, as the market capitalisation of Hong Kong stocks is generally relatively cheap, and the craze for heavily hyped hardware stocks has cooled down, pressure on Hong Kong stocks has been somewhat eased. Coupled with the relatively large number of high-yield stocks in Hong Kong stocks, this helps attract capital to support the broader market in the current environment. Therefore, Kwok Ka Yiu believes that the chance of a sharp downside correction in Hong Kong stocks is low, and expects Hong Kong stocks to trade sideways in the 25,000 to 26,000 points level recently.
"HSI Tech Index plans expansion, related concept stocks advised to trade the momentum"
Hang Seng Indexes Company previously launched a market consultation on the revision proposals for the HSI Tech Index. Proposals include increasing the number of constituent stocks to 50, expanding the technology theme scope of the index, and adjusting the constituent stock selection mechanism, with the consultation period ending on 18 September. CICC released a research report pointing out that hardware technology stocks are expected to take a dominant role, such as Iluvatar CoreX (09903), KB Laminates (01888), GDS (09698), and Biren Tech (06082).
Previously, two GPU concept stocks, Biren Tech and Iluvatar CoreX, issued positive profit alerts respectively. Biren Tech expects a net loss of HKD 320 million to HKD 400 million for the interim period ending mid-June, narrowing significantly from a net loss of HKD 1.6 billion in the previous year. Iluvatar CoreX even expects to turn a profit from a loss for the interim period ending mid-June, earning HKD 60 million to HKD 140 million, compared to a loss of HKD 610 million in the same period last year.
Kwok Ka Yiu pointed out that constituent stocks of the HSI Tech Index were previously dominated by platform-type companies. However, due to weak consumption in Mainland China, growth momentum in businesses such as gaming, platforms, and food delivery is relatively weak, making it difficult to drive the index. Therefore, the expansion direction tending towards hardware companies benefiting from the AI investment wave is a reasonable choice. However, many enterprises in this sector of Hong Kong stocks have relatively high earnings volatility or are even not yet profitable. He believes that the immediate help to drive the index after expansion will be limited, and may even increase the volatility of the index.
Kwok Ka Yiu stated that such shares may have speculative opportunities before expansion, but the market's grasp of these shares is not high, and they should be regarded as short-term deployments, with a strategy focused on diversification recommended. Wan Kong Shing, the Chief Investment Officer of iFAST Global Markets, also took Iluvatar CoreX and Biren Tech as examples, pointing out that although the two stocks previously issued positive profit alerts, their earnings are still not stable, and their GPU businesses are not particularly prominent. Their fundamental trends are difficult to estimate, and therefore if one wishes to deploy, the strategy should be short-term "trading the momentum".
Regarding technical deployment, Wan Kong Shing stated that the support level for Iluvatar CoreX is currently around HKD 388. If it can be hyped up by news, it can target the neckline position of HKD 495, but it must be remembered to cut losses at HKD 363. The support level for Biren Tech is at HKD 35.5, with an upside target of HKD 58, and the stop-loss set around HKD 33.
