Hong Kong Stocks End September Higher as AI Names Rebound
Hong Kong’s stock market finished the last trading day of September on a modestly positive note, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index closing 0.37% higher at 24,613.27 points, a gain of 89.7 points on the day. The Hang Seng Tech Index added 0.1% to end at 4,253.89, while the China Enterprises Index rose 0.5% to 8,220.08 and the Red Chip Index climbed 0.32% to 4,070.11.
The daily gain masks a difficult month. The Hang Seng Index slipped 3.7% across September, and the tech-focused gauge fell 7.9%, reflecting a cooling in the rally that had lifted Hong Kong shares earlier in the year. Traders described the session as one of selective buying rather than broad optimism, with the afternoon bringing a late lift to the main index.
Leading the advance were China’s two best-known independent developers of large language models, the technology behind chatbots and AI assistants. Zhipu rose more than 4%, and MINIMAX gained over 3%, a rebound for a pair of companies that have become closely watched proxies for China’s homegrown AI ambitions. Both firms are privately held but have drawn intense investor interest as listed peers and partners move in step with their progress.
Internet platforms were mixed. Kuaishou, the short-video and livestreaming company, climbed more than 2%, while Meituan, China’s dominant food-delivery and local-services platform, rose over 1%. Baidu and Bilibili also gained more than 1%. Tencent, the country’s largest gaming and social-media company, edged slightly lower, a reminder that the recovery was uneven across the sector.
The session came alongside a batch of corporate and policy news that kept investors busy. China’s market regulator said a new national metrology standard for measuring the acoustic performance of smart glasses will take effect on October 2, a step that gives manufacturers a common technical yardstick for a fast-growing consumer gadget category.
Elsewhere, Zhongji Innolight, a supplier of optical modules used in data centres, completed the transfer of a 10.47% stake in Zhongshi Technology for 1.747 billion yuan, a deal that underscores how AI-driven demand for networking hardware is reshaping supply chains. Zhishang Technology said it signed a memorandum with a customer forecasting up to $500 million of fiber-optic connector purchases for 2027.
On the policy front, four government departments began compiling the 2026 list of integrated-circuit companies eligible for a value-added tax credit, part of a long-running effort to support chip design, manufacturing, packaging and materials firms. The foreign exchange regulator also opened a public consultation on revised rules for how banks report international balance-of-payments statistics.
Shipping group China Merchants Energy Shipping said a subsidiary signed a 25-year transport agreement for six very large ore carriers, with a contract value expected to be no less than $2.8 billion. For global readers, the takeaway from Wednesday’s session is that Hong Kong’s market is stabilising at month-end but remains short of the momentum it enjoyed earlier in the year, with AI and hardware names providing the brightest spots.