All Quiet On The Western Front

Key News

Asian equities were mixed overnight on light volumes as the dollar strengthened slightly overnight while India was closed for Diwali.

Uncertainty lingered following President Trump’s mixed remarks on pursuing a major trade agreement with China, although he noted that a meeting might not occur. This contributed to very light turnover in Hong Kong, with investors waiting for greater clarity on US-China trade relations. Some of that clarity may arrive following Treasury Secretary Bessent’s meetings scheduled for this week.

An additional factor influencing investor sentiment was the ongoing Fourth Plenary Session, which was scheduled to conclude the following day. While speculation centered on the release of a draft of the 15th Five-Year Plan, there has been no formal communication on timing.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng Tech Index both closed below the 26,000-point and 6,000-point marks, respectively, as growth stocks generally declined. Volumes remained light, though Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) finished up +0.43% after reporting strong third-quarter results.

In contrast, Alibaba fell -1.94% even after announcing two new models, Qwen3-VL-2B and Qwen3-VL-32B, for its artificial intelligence platform. According to my colleague Joe, Airbnb's CEO Brian Chesky mentioned that their team prefers Alibaba’s Qwen models over those from OpenAI, citing them as “better and cheaper.” These remarks generated significant interest in China overnight.

Baidu declined -2.04% despite announcing a partnership post-close with Post Bus, the public transport division of Swiss Post, to launch AmiGo, an on-demand autonomous mobility service, in Switzerland.

Meituan was off -0.41% following an analyst downgrade, despite the company highlighting its use of robotics and drones at a recent event.

China Aluminum International Engineering Corporation Ltd. (Chalieco, 2068 HK) surged +30.52% on reports it would reduce its stake in global mining company Rio Tinto from 15% to 11% in exchange for mining assets. Reuters reported that the transaction could enable Rio Tinto to increase its dividend payments and pursue further mergers and acquisitions. This reflects the broader trend, detailed in our previous insights, of Chinese commodity company CEOs influencing macroeconomic expectations through their capital allocation decisions.

Precious metals and mining stocks remained under pressure. Mainland China-listed equities outperformed those listed in Hong Kong, as index heavyweight financial and energy companies led the way. There was no indication of National Team support, as trading volumes in their favored exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were below average.

The STAR Board-listed semiconductor manufacturer Cambricon Technologies (688256 CH) gained +4.42% after Guangdong’s Provincial Government released its "Guangdong Artificial Intelligence Empowerment Manufacturing High-Quality Development Action Plan (2025-2027)."

Turning to third-quarter earnings, out of 140 Mainland-listed Chinese companies, 70 reported year-over-year net profit growth, and 21 of those showed more than 50% profit growth, and eight posting over +100% profit increases.

Lastly, Goldman Sachs' report projecting 30% upside for Chinese stocks received considerable attention in Mainland financial media. Quiet night!

Last Night's Performance

Country / Index	Ticker	1-Day Change
China (Hong Kong)	HSI Index	0.7%
Hang Seng Tech	HSTECH Index	1.3%
Hong Kong Turnover	HKTurn Index	10.7%
Hong Kong Short Sale Turnover	HKSST Index	3.9%
Short Turnover as a % of Hong Kong Turnover	N/A	13.5%
Southbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions)	N/A	1,279.42
China (Shanghai)	SHCOMP Index	1.4%
China (Shenzhen)	SZCOMP Index	1.8%
China (STAR Board)	Star50 Index	2.8%
Mainland Turnover	.chturn Index	7.9%
Northbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions)	N/A	Not Available
Jing Daily China Global Luxury Index	CHINALUX Index	0.2%
Japan	NKY Index	0.3%
India	SENSEX Index	0.1%
Indonesia	JCI Index	1.8%
Malaysia	FBMKLCI Index	0.6%
Pakistan	KSE100 Index	0.6%
Philippines	PCOMP Index	0.2%
South Korea	KOSPI Index	0.2%
Taiwan	TWSE Index	0.2%
Thailand	SET Index	0.5%
Singapore	STI Index	1.2%
Australia	AS51 Index	0.7%
Vietnam	VNINDEX Index	1.6%

Indicator	Hong Kong	Mainland
Today's Volume % of 1-Year Average	95%	99%
Advancing Stocks	165	2079
Declining Stocks	314	2880
Outperforming Factors	Value, Low Volatility	Dividend Yield, Value, Low Volatility
Underperforming Factors	EPS Revision, Growth, Buyback	Liquidity, EPS Revision, Growth
Top Sectors		Financials, Utilities
Bottom Sectors	Healthcare, Communication, Staples	Real Estate, Materials, Healthcare
Top Subsectors	Consumer Durables/Apparel, Petroleum, Building	Energy Equipment, Power Generation, Oil Gas
Bottom Subsectors	Consumer Staples Distribution, Consumer Discretionary Distribution, Steel	Precious Metals, Agricultural, Fine Chemicals
Southbound Connect Buys	HK Tracker ETF, CNOOC (Large), SMIC (Moderate), Innovent Bio, Pop Mart, SDHG, Tencent (Small)	N/A
Southbound Connect Sells	Hua Hong (Small), Alibaba (Tiny)	N/A

MSCI China All Shares Index	# of Stocks	Average 1-Day Change (%)
Hong Kong Listed	152	-1.07
Communication Services	9	-1.49
Consumer Discretionary	28	-1.24
Consumer Staples	13	-1.47
Energy	6	-0.04
Financials	24	-0.26
Health Care	12	-1.99
Industrials	21	-0.24
Information Technology	10	-0.88
Materials	10	-0.8
Real Estate	7	-1.05
Utilities	12	-0.12
Mainland China Listed	395	-0.47
Communication Services	7	-0.5
Consumer Discretionary	29	-0.42
Consumer Staples	24	-0.59
Energy	13	-0.32
Financials	64	0.17
Health Care	32	-0.95
Industrials	61	-0.63
Information Technology	90	-0.73
Materials	54	-0.95
Real Estate	6	-1.12
Utilities	15	0.14

US & Hong Kong Dually Listed	Ticker	1-Day Change (%)
Tencent HK	700 HK Equity	0.5
Alibaba HK	9988 HK Equity	2
JD.com HK	9618 HK Equity	0.6
NetEase HK	9999 HK Equity	2
Yum China HK	9987 HK Equity	1.9
Baozun HK	9991 HK Equity	5.5
Baidu HK	9888 HK Equity	0.3
Autohome HK	2518 HK Equity	0.1
Bilibili HK	9626 HK Equity	8.9
Trip.com HK	9961 HK Equity	1
EDU HK	9901 HK Equity	3.3
Xpeng HK	9868 HK Equity	3.7
Weibo HK	9898 HK Equity	2.2
Li Auto HK	2015 HK Equity	0.3
Nio Auto HK	9866 HK Equity	2.8
Zhihu HK	2390 HK Equity	2.3
KE HK	2423 HK Equity	1.2
Tencent Music Entertainment HK	1698 HK Equity	-1
Meituan HK	3690 HK Equity	-0.2

Hong Kong's Most Heavily Traded by Value	1-Day Change (%)
ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD	2
POP MART INTERNATIONAL GROUP	-8.1
INNOVENT BIOLOGICS INC	-2
TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD	0.5
SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURI-H	3.1
XIAOMI CORP-CLASS B	-1.4
ZIJIN MINING GROUP CO LTD-H	-1.7
MEITUAN-CLASS B	-0.2
CNOOC LTD-H	0.9
HUA HONG SEMICONDUCTOR LTD-H	-0.3

Shanghai and Shenzhen's Most Heavily Traded by Value	1-Day Change (%)
CAMBRICON TECHNOLOGIES-A	6.9
ZHONGJI INNOLIGHT CO LTD-A	9.6
EOPTOLINK TECHNOLOGY INC L-A	11
ZHEJIANG SANHUA INTELLIGEN-A	1.8
FOXCONN INDUSTRIAL INTERNE-A	9.6
VICTORY GIANT TECHNOLOGY -A	6.4
SUZHOU TFC OPTICAL COMMUNI-A	7.1
ZIJIN MINING GROUP CO LTD-A	-2
HYGON INFORMATION TECHNOLO-A	2.1
SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURIN-A	-0.3

Last Night’s Exchange Rates, Prices, & Yields

• CNY per USD 7.12 versus 7.11 yesterday
• CNY per EUR 8.25 versus 8.26 yesterday
• Yield on 10-Year Government Bond 1.83% versus 1.84% yesterday
• Yield on 10-Year China Development Bank Bond 1.91% versus 1.90% yesterday
• Copper Price -0.63%
• Steel Price +0.26%