Hong Kong shares close higher, SMIC dives 10pc

Hong Kong stocks closed higher on the first trading day of the second half of the year, even as a selloff in artificial intelligence and chip shares weighed on the Asian market.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index pared some gains in the afternoon trading session and rose by 174 points, or 0.76 percent, to 23, 055 at close. The full-day turnover reached HK$369.6 billion.

Healthcare shares led the gains, with CSPC Pharmaceutical (1093), Innovent Biologics (1801), and Hansoh Pharmaceutical (3692) leaping over 8 percent, 7 percent, and 6 percent, respectively.

Besides, the Shenzhen-listed consumer electronics maker Anker Innovations Technology (0668) closed 15.69 percent higher on its Hong Kong debut, delivering a paper gain of HK$1,558 per board lot of 100 shares.

In contrast, chipmakers and AI firms underperformed the market. SMIC (0981) and Hua Hong Semiconductor (1347) dived 10 percent and 13 percent. Shares of Knowledge Atlas Technology (2513), or Zhipu AI, plummeted 16 percent, while MiniMax (0100) sank 14 percent.

This came as investors turned cautious on AI investment as Meta reportedly plans to sell excess AI computing capacity.

In the mainland, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index dropped 2.03 percent to 4,028 points, and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange Component Index fell 3.85 percent to 15,498 points.

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