[ET Net News Agency, 17 July 2026] New York State of US has suspended the construction of data centres with a power consumption capacity of 50MW (megawatts) or above, putting pressure on the investment prospects of AI. US chip stocks plummeted for a second day, dragging down all three major US stock indices. Major Asian stock markets were similarly under pressure, with Japanese and Taiwanese markets dropping over 4%, while the Korean market was closed. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.6% at the midday break, and the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 3.7%. After opening slightly higher this morning, HSI was once pushed up by over 100 points in early trading, but the trend quickly reversed. HSI turned downwards, shedding over 500 points at its worst. HSI closed down 494 points, or 2%, at 24,514 at the midday break, with a turnover of nearly HKD 175.8 billion on the main board. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index stood at 8,116, down 201 points, or 2.4%. The Hang Seng Tech Index was at 4,638, down 195 points, or 4%.
"Lee Wai Kit: Capital taking profits for cash over the weekend, retracing and consolidating first next week"
Yesterday, HSI rebounded to a relatively high level to consolidate and close. Although the market opening this morning once touched the 25,000-point psychological barrier, it immediately met resistance and fell back, dropping below the 50-day moving average (approximately 24,800 points), with the midday loss expanding to nearly 500 points. Lee Wai Kit, a financial commentator of TF International, told ET Net News Agency that after this wave of rally in Hong Kong stocks entered July, capital obviously rotated from AI computing hardware stocks to platform and application-level shares. Since HSI reached a high of 25,200 points yesterday, it has basically achieved the second target of this round of rebound. In addition, the external tension between the US and Iran has escalated again, pushing oil prices above USD 80 per barrel, which directly affects the direction of US interest rates. Under the combined impact of multiple uncertainties and the weekend effect, investors preferred to lock in profits at relatively high levels and adopt a conservative strategy. It is entirely reasonable for the market to experience a retracement.
Lee Wai Kit pointed out that the market turnover during today's correction did not show any abnormal expansion, indicating that the low appetite for entering the market was mainly caused by the weekend effect. He expects that the market is highly likely to retrace and consolidate first early next week, with the primary downside support level seen around 24,200 points. If it can hold firm and complete the consolidation, the short-term resistance level for HSI will be between 25,200 and 25,300 points (which is close to the 100-day moving average level). If the correction pressure on external stock markets persists in the future, prompting Japanese and Korean funds to flow into Hong Kong stocks for safe haven, the market is expected to challenge the mid-axis of the second-quarter trading range at 26,000 points in the medium to long term. However, he reminded that as the earnings season starts in mid-July, the market will announce a large number of positive and negative profit alerts, and investors must guard against the risk of "overdrafting expectations". For example, YOFC (06869) recently announced that its interim profit surged by 7 to 9 times year-on-year, but because the stock price had been excessively speculated on earlier, the stock price actually retraced on "good news selling" after the positive profit alert. Investors must guard against this when making deployments.
"Pop Mart boosted by three positive factors, expected to fluctuate between HKD 150 and HKD 180 before earnings"
The new blue-chip entrant Pop Mart (09992), which surged nearly 7% against the market trend yesterday, retraced along with the broader market today, testing the 100-day moving average resistance in the short term. The stock has recently been supported by a number of positive news, including Duan Yongping, a well-known investor in Mainland China, recently increasing his holdings in the company's shares again, raising his shareholding ratio to 7.65%; Chairman Wang Ning recently led a delegation to visit Apple's headquarters to meet with Tim Cook and present a LABUBU special edition, sparking market anticipation for cooperation; coupled with the World Cup fever, its popular IP LABUBU appeared at the World Cup opening ceremony, and the company took advantage of the momentum to launch the "MEGA LABUBU 400% World Cup" special edition product last night. This news has indeed helped boost market sentiment in the short term and injected a catalyst for the stock price to play a rebound.
However, Lee Wai Kit analysed that although the above positive factors have heated up the market atmosphere, there are currently no substantive cooperation and catalysts materialising from the meeting with Apple, and the overall popularity of the brand is visibly cooler than last year. He emphasised that whether the popularity of a trendy toy brand IP can be sustained ultimately depends on whether the upcoming interim results can meet the high expectations of the market; otherwise, its relatively low forward price-to-earnings ratio advantage will be under pressure. In terms of technical trends, although Pop Mart showed a large bullish candlestick yesterday to bet on a rebound, it retraced with the broader market today, testing the 100-day moving average (approximately HKD 172) in the short term. He expects that before the results are announced, the stock price will still fluctuate within the range of HKD 150 to HKD 180, with downside support at HKD 150. If the stock can successfully break through the 100-day moving average in the future, there is a high chance it will further challenge the double-top resistance of around HKD 185 in June, but whether it can make another breakthrough depends entirely on the actual quality of the interim results.
"Lee Wai Kit: Capital taking profits for cash over the weekend, retracing and consolidating first next week"
Yesterday, HSI rebounded to a relatively high level to consolidate and close. Although the market opening this morning once touched the 25,000-point psychological barrier, it immediately met resistance and fell back, dropping below the 50-day moving average (approximately 24,800 points), with the midday loss expanding to nearly 500 points. Lee Wai Kit, a financial commentator of TF International, told ET Net News Agency that after this wave of rally in Hong Kong stocks entered July, capital obviously rotated from AI computing hardware stocks to platform and application-level shares. Since HSI reached a high of 25,200 points yesterday, it has basically achieved the second target of this round of rebound. In addition, the external tension between the US and Iran has escalated again, pushing oil prices above USD 80 per barrel, which directly affects the direction of US interest rates. Under the combined impact of multiple uncertainties and the weekend effect, investors preferred to lock in profits at relatively high levels and adopt a conservative strategy. It is entirely reasonable for the market to experience a retracement.
Lee Wai Kit pointed out that the market turnover during today's correction did not show any abnormal expansion, indicating that the low appetite for entering the market was mainly caused by the weekend effect. He expects that the market is highly likely to retrace and consolidate first early next week, with the primary downside support level seen around 24,200 points. If it can hold firm and complete the consolidation, the short-term resistance level for HSI will be between 25,200 and 25,300 points (which is close to the 100-day moving average level). If the correction pressure on external stock markets persists in the future, prompting Japanese and Korean funds to flow into Hong Kong stocks for safe haven, the market is expected to challenge the mid-axis of the second-quarter trading range at 26,000 points in the medium to long term. However, he reminded that as the earnings season starts in mid-July, the market will announce a large number of positive and negative profit alerts, and investors must guard against the risk of "overdrafting expectations". For example, YOFC (06869) recently announced that its interim profit surged by 7 to 9 times year-on-year, but because the stock price had been excessively speculated on earlier, the stock price actually retraced on "good news selling" after the positive profit alert. Investors must guard against this when making deployments.
"Pop Mart boosted by three positive factors, expected to fluctuate between HKD 150 and HKD 180 before earnings"
The new blue-chip entrant Pop Mart (09992), which surged nearly 7% against the market trend yesterday, retraced along with the broader market today, testing the 100-day moving average resistance in the short term. The stock has recently been supported by a number of positive news, including Duan Yongping, a well-known investor in Mainland China, recently increasing his holdings in the company's shares again, raising his shareholding ratio to 7.65%; Chairman Wang Ning recently led a delegation to visit Apple's headquarters to meet with Tim Cook and present a LABUBU special edition, sparking market anticipation for cooperation; coupled with the World Cup fever, its popular IP LABUBU appeared at the World Cup opening ceremony, and the company took advantage of the momentum to launch the "MEGA LABUBU 400% World Cup" special edition product last night. This news has indeed helped boost market sentiment in the short term and injected a catalyst for the stock price to play a rebound.
However, Lee Wai Kit analysed that although the above positive factors have heated up the market atmosphere, there are currently no substantive cooperation and catalysts materialising from the meeting with Apple, and the overall popularity of the brand is visibly cooler than last year. He emphasised that whether the popularity of a trendy toy brand IP can be sustained ultimately depends on whether the upcoming interim results can meet the high expectations of the market; otherwise, its relatively low forward price-to-earnings ratio advantage will be under pressure. In terms of technical trends, although Pop Mart showed a large bullish candlestick yesterday to bet on a rebound, it retraced with the broader market today, testing the 100-day moving average (approximately HKD 172) in the short term. He expects that before the results are announced, the stock price will still fluctuate within the range of HKD 150 to HKD 180, with downside support at HKD 150. If the stock can successfully break through the 100-day moving average in the future, there is a high chance it will further challenge the double-top resistance of around HKD 185 in June, but whether it can make another breakthrough depends entirely on the actual quality of the interim results.
