Hang Seng Index closes shy of 26,000 points, Tencent jumps 7pc

Hong Kong shares rallied on Tuesday, boosted by the artificial intelligence agents boom of tech firms and the hope of easing the Iran conflict.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced 551 points, or 2.17 percent, to 25,959, with the full-day turnover of HK$330.9 billion.

The Hang Seng Tech Index rose 2.4 percent to 5,060.

Tencent (0700) contributed nearly 30 percent of the rally, with its shares jumping 7.3 percent after rolling out its own AI agent "WorkBuddy".

Chinese AI model MiniMax (0100) skyrocketed nearly 22.4 percent to above HK$1,200 amid the OpenClaw frenzy, further advancing as the most expensive stock in the Hong Kong market. Its rival Zhipu (2513) also rose 13 percent. 

CATL (3750) outperformed the market, surging 9.34 percent after posting a better-than-expected performance.

Conversely, the laggard PetroChina (0857) fell 3.5 percent, while CNOOC (0883) slid 1.6 percent on the cooling oil prices.

In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index inched up 0.65 percent to 4,123, and the Shenzhen Component Index increased 2.04 percent to 14,354.