Hong Kong’s market closed early on Lunar New Year’s Eve with the Hang Seng Index finishing the trading day up 0.52%, a modest rebound that masked sharper moves inside the market. The Hang Seng Tech Index edged higher by 0.13% as investors rotated into pockets of strength, notably AI-related names, semiconductors and non-ferrous metals producers.
AI application stocks posted dramatic intraday gains, with MINIMAX-WP surging about 24% and Zhipu rising roughly 4% after the company’s IPO counseling record was updated to reflect plans for a secondary listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market. Semiconductor firms were strong performers too: Montage Technology rallied around 14% and Gigadevice climbed roughly 9%, reflecting renewed appetite for hardware plays after months of uneven sentiment.
Commodities-linked equities also outperformed as a seasonal pickup in gold consumption — driven by Valentine’s Day, Lunar New Year gifting, weddings and collecting — combined with a phase of gold price consolidation to lift miners. Luoyang Molybdenum jumped more than 6%, while Zijin Mining and Lingbao Gold each rose over 4%, illustrating how consumption and sentiment factors can power cyclical rallies even during thin holiday trading.
Market watchers pointed to technical improvements in sentiment, with analysts at GF Securities noting that the Hang Seng Tech’s recent break above its annual moving average suggests much of the downside pressure has eased. They added that fresh positive catalysts could prompt a more durable return of capital to Hong Kong stocks, but cautioned that short holiday trading and thin liquidity can accentuate moves and obscure underlying flows.
The Zhipu development is notable for capital-market watchers: the company’s switch of IPO counselors to include Guotai Junan Haitong and China International Capital Corporation signals a deliberate push to tap mainland liquidity via the STAR Market. For investors this underlines an ongoing dynamic in which China’s technology companies seek diversified listings to access deeper pools of domestic capital while Hong Kong remains a key trading venue for international investors.
Taken together, the holiday-shortened session highlights two broader themes: tactical rotation into cyclical and hardware sectors as risk appetite edges up, and continued strategic capital-market maneuvers by Chinese tech firms to broaden funding options. Both trends bear watching as trading normalizes after the holiday and as policymakers and global investors calibrate expectations for growth, regulation and liquidity in 2026.