AI supply chain lifts China and Hong Kong shares as trade surplus tops $1 trillion
China's trade surplus has passed $1 trillion in the first ten months of the year, carried by a global race to build AI infrastructure that lifted sales of high-tech goods and offset weak domestic demand, as Chinese and Hong Kong shares rose on Tuesday led by AI supply chain names.
The CSI300 blue-chip index and the Shanghai Composite each edged up 0.1% by the lunch break, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2%. The move tracked an overnight rally on Wall Street in which the Nasdaq jumped 2.7%, with chip supply chain shares climbing across Asia.
Onshore, the 5G Communication Index rose 2.7% to lead gains and the tech-focused STAR50 Index added 1%. Hong Kong-listed shares of optical communication company Zhongji Innolight jumped 10%, and the territory's tech majors were up 0.5%.
Wuxi AppTec rose as much as 5% before paring gains after the Pentagon removed the Chinese biotechnology company from its list of Chinese military companies. Non-ferrous metal shares edged up 0.5% as gold prices rebounded this month on falling oil prices, while the CSI Energy Index fell 2.2% and PetroChina dropped 5.2%.
Two Chinese chip firms, Suzhou Denglin Technology and Jiangsu Xinde Semiconductor Technology, made mixed Hong Kong trading debuts after raising a combined HK$2.36 billion ($301 million) in initial public offerings. The scale of the surplus is likely to sharpen tensions with major trading partners, according to Token Times.
