Hong Kong stocks made a strong start to 2026 on Friday, as investors bet on economic growth after both the mainland and Hong Kong markets recorded bull runs in 2025.
The Hang Seng Index surged 2.8%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index added 4%. On the mainland, the markets were closed for public holidays.
Leading the advance, search-engine giant Baidu jumped 9.4%, after it said its AI chip unit Kunlunxin filed a listing application with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday.
In terms of other companies, NetEase rose 7%; SMIC and Li Auto rose 5%; Alibaba, Tencent, Kuaishou, BYD, and Bilibili rose 4%; JD.com, Pop Mart, and Xiaomi rose 3%; CATL rose 2%; XPeng and Meituan rose 1%.
In its debut, Shanghai Biren Intelligent Technology, the first of China’s up-and-coming graphics processing unit developers to list in the city, jumped 75.8%.
The Hang Seng Index ended 2025 with a 28 per cent gain on Wednesday, securing its best yearly performance since gaining 36 per cent in 2017. The CSI 300 Index of the mainland’s yuan-denominated stocks climbed 18 per cent in 2025, the biggest gain since 2020.
Expectations have been building that the stock rally could extend into 2026 after a high-level economic policy meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping last month signalled continued fiscal support and accommodative monetary policy in 2026.
Investors turned more optimistic on China’s markets in 2025, putting them back on the radar after the country showed resilience amid tariff friction with the US and highlighted its technological strength with the emergence of home-grown artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek.
