Alibaba Releases Robotics Model, CNY Receives Structural Support
5 Min. Read Time
Key News
Asian equities were mostly higher overnight as Japan and Taiwan outperformed, while Malaysia and Pakistan underperformed. China's currency, the renminbi (CNY), rose slightly against the US dollar.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index close higher, but off of intra-day highs as regulatory jitters weighed on key names. Meanwhile, Mainland China's STAR Market, Shanghai, and Shenzhen all closed higher, with the Shanghai near intra-day highs.
Health care stocks did well in Hong Kong overnight. Health care stocks led, as Innovent Biologics announced a strategic partnership with US multinational pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly.
According to some brokers, financial institutions were told to trim their holdings of US treasuries, which could support a firmer CNY. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia issued CNY-denominated bonds on China's interbank bond market in recent weeks. These moves can set up CNY for structural stability and appreciation versus the US dollar.
Meituan fell slightly on potential new regulations to protect the rights of delivery drivers. Regulators met with 16 platforms, including both Alibaba and Meituan, to discuss protections for "gig workers". This is not new, but appeared to impact trading overnight. Notably, Meituan was a top net buy from Mainland investors via Southbound Stock Connect, suggesting that they may believe the new standards will not be a problem for the food delivery veteran.
Alibaba released a new AI model called "Rynn Brain" that is meant to provide comprehensive protocols for robotics, enabling robots, especially humanoids, to make decisions and better engage with their environment. This is a strong step for the platform, which has had limited forays into robotics, but is poised to benefit immensely from automation.
Internet companies were mostly higher in Hong Kong overnight, though Tencent, Baozun, and EDU were all lower. Unfortunately, we will not see the full picture in terms of earnings until the end of March. We have posted the expcted earnings dates for the companies that we track below. For E-Commerce names, investors are likely to be looking for profit improvements and the ending of the viscious price wars in instant commerce. Hopefully, with consumer support and stimulus, the China E-Commerce penetration "pie" can begin to grow again, which would also greatly aid these companies' bottom lines and allow them to stop competing for the same wallets in urban areas. Alibaba, Baidu, Kuaishou, and Tencent have benefitted recently from strong AI stories, but not all internet companies can ride as much off of the back of AI initiatives.
| Internet Company | Earnings Date (Expected) |
|---|---|
| NetEase | 2/11/2026 |
| Alibaba | 2/19/2026 |
| Mercado Libre | 2/24/2026 |
| Trip.com | 2/25/2026 |
| JD.com | 3/6/2026 |
| JD Health | 3/6/2026 |
| Tencent | 3/18/2026 |
| KE Holdings | 3/18/2026 |
| PDD Holdings | 3/20/2026 |
| Meituan | 3/23/2026 |
Last Night's Performance
| Country / Index | Ticker | 1-Day Change |
|---|---|---|
| China (Hong Kong) | HSI Index | 0.6% |
| Hang Seng Tech | HSTECH Index | 0.6% |
| Hong Kong Turnover | HKTurn Index | -8.3% |
| Hong Kong Short Sale Turnover | HKSST Index | -6.4% |
| Short Turnover as a % of Hong Kong Turnover | N/A | 14.7% |
| Southbound Stock Connect Net Buy/Sell (US $ Millions) | N/A | 10.811877394636 |
| China (Shanghai) | SHCOMP Index | 0.1% |
| China (Shenzhen) | SZCOMP Index | 0.1% |
| China (STAR Board) | Star50 Index | 0.9% |
| Mainland Turnover | .chturn Index | -6.8% |
| Japan | NKY Index | 2.3% |
| India | SENSEX Index | 0.2% |
| Indonesia | JCI Index | 1.2% |
| Malaysia | FBMKLCI Index | -0.2% |
| Pakistan | KSE100 Index | -0.2% |
| Philippines | PCOMP Index | 2% |
| South Korea | KOSPI Index | 0.1% |
| Taiwan | TWSE Index | 2.1% |
| Thailand | SET Index | 0.7% |
| Singapore | STI Index | 0.1% |
| Australia | AS51 Index | 0% |
| Vietnam | VNINDEX Index | 0% |
| Indicator | Hong Kong | Mainland China |
|---|---|---|
| Today's Volume % of 1-Year Average | 89 | 113 |
| Advancing Stocks | 55 (Hang Seng) | 134 (CSI 300) |
| Declining Stocks | 33 (Hang Seng) | 158 (CSI 300) |
| Outperforming Factors | Value | Growth |
| Underperforming Factors | Growth | Value |
| Top Sectors | Health Care, Energy, Materials | Communication Services, Energy, Health Care |
| Bottom Sectors | Communcation Services, Real Estate, Consumer Staples | Real Estate, Consumer Staples, Utilities |
| Top Subsectors | Consumer Durables, Paper & Packaging, Pharmaceuticals | Cultural Media, Education, Leisure Products |
| Bottom Subsectors | Food, Consumer Services, Real Estate Management | Forest Industry, Real Estate Services, Liquor |
| Southbound Connect Buys | Meituan, CNOOC, Semiconductor Manufacturing International (SMIC) | N/A |
| Southbound Connect Sells | Tencent, Pop Mart, Zhaojin Mining | N/A |
| MSCI China All Shares Index | # of Stocks | Average 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Hong Kong Listed | 165 | 0.43 |
| Communication Services | 11 | -1 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 28 | 0.95 |
| Consumer Staples | 13 | -0.87 |
| Energy | 6 | 1.4 |
| Financials | 25 | 0.61 |
| Health Care | 16 | 3.07 |
| Industrials | 22 | 1.09 |
| Information Technology | 12 | 0.89 |
| Materials | 14 | 1.12 |
| Real Estate | 7 | -0.87 |
| Utilities | 11 | -0.39 |
| Mainland China Listed | 386 | 0.35 |
| Communication Services | 8 | 4.1 |
| Consumer Discretionary | 26 | 0.45 |
| Consumer Staples | 19 | -1.05 |
| Energy | 12 | 1.27 |
| Financials | 64 | 0.22 |
| Health Care | 31 | 1.16 |
| Industrials | 58 | 0.32 |
| Information Technology | 95 | 0.49 |
| Materials | 52 | 0.48 |
| US & Hong Kong Dually Listed | Ticker | 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Tencent HK | 700 HK Equity | -1.6 |
| Alibaba HK | 9988 HK Equity | 1.6 |
| JD.com HK | 9618 HK Equity | 1.9 |
| NetEase HK | 9999 HK Equity | 0.9 |
| Yum China HK | 9987 HK Equity | 1.4 |
| Baozun HK | 9991 HK Equity | -0.8 |
| Baidu HK | 9888 HK Equity | 0.8 |
| Autohome HK | 2518 HK Equity | 3.4 |
| Bilibili HK | 9626 HK Equity | 0 |
| Trip.com HK | 9961 HK Equity | -1.6 |
| EDU HK | 9901 HK Equity | -4.4 |
| Xpeng HK | 9868 HK Equity | 0.1 |
| Weibo HK | 9898 HK Equity | 0.2 |
| Li Auto HK | 2015 HK Equity | 1.2 |
| Nio Auto HK | 9866 HK Equity | 0.5 |
| Zhihu HK | 2390 HK Equity | 5.2 |
| KE HK | 2423 HK Equity | -1 |
| Tencent Music Entertainment HK | 1698 HK Equity | -0.2 |
| Meituan HK | 3690 HK Equity | -2.5 |
| Hong Kong's Most Heavily Traded by Value | 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|
| TENCENT HOLDINGS LTD | -1.6 |
| ALIBABA GROUP HOLDING LTD | 1.6 |
| MEITUAN-CLASS B | -2.5 |
| POP MART INTERNATIONAL GROUP | 4.9 |
| YANGTZE OPTICAL FIBRE AND-H | 8.9 |
| XIAOMI CORP-CLASS B | 1.1 |
| SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURI-H | 1.7 |
| PING AN INSURANCE GROUP CO-H | 0.6 |
| AIA GROUP LTD | -0.5 |
| ZIJIN MINING GROUP CO LTD-H | 2.5 |
| Shanghai and Shenzhen's Most Heavily Traded by Value | 1-Day Change (%) |
|---|---|
| BLUEFOCUS INTELLIGENT COMM-A | -1.5 |
| ZHONGJI INNOLIGHT CO LTD-A | -1.8 |
| EOPTOLINK TECHNOLOGY INC L-A | 0.8 |
| WANGSU SCIENCE & TECHNOLOG-A | -1.2 |
| GCL SYSTEM INTEGRATION TEC-A | 4.4 |
| CAMBRICON TECHNOLOGIES-A | 1.3 |
| SUNGROW POWER SUPPLY CO LT-A | 1.4 |
| ZHEJIANG SANHUA INTELLIGEN-A | 3.3 |
| SUZHOU TFC OPTICAL COMMUNI-A | -3.4 |
| COL GROUP CO LTD-A | 20 |
Last Night's Exchange Rates, Prices, & Yields
- CNY per USD 6.91 versus 6.92 yesterday
- CNY per EUR 8.23 versus 8.25 yesterday
- Yield on 10-Year Government Bond 1.81% versus 1.81% yesterday
- Yield on 10-Year China Development Bank Bond 1.93% versus 1.93% yesterday
- Copper Price -0.10%
- Steel Price 0.03%
