HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s stock market went on a roller-coaster ride on Thursday, with the Hang Seng Index falling 436.63 points, or 2.18 percent, to close at 19,623.32 points on the first working day of 2025.
The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 2.47 percent to close at 4,357 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprise Index dipped 2.73 percent to close at 7,090.56 points.
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From an industry perspective, the Chinese mainland’s banking stocks dragged down Hong Kong’s stock market, with China Construction Bank falling 3.62 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbling 4.06 percent.
The overall performance of technology stocks was also subpar. Tencent dipped 0.24 percent, Xiaomi dropped 1.45 percent and Alibaba fell 1.3 percent. Alibaba announced it is selling all the shares it holds in Chinese hypermarket operator Sun Art Retail Group for HK$13.1 billion ($1.7 billion), to focus on its core e-commerce business.
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Gold stocks bucked the downward trend. Lingbao Gold Group Company rose 13.1 percent, Shandong Gold Group increased 7 percent and Zhaojin Mining Industry went up 4.2 percent.
Affected by factors such as the central bank’s gold repurchasing, the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate cuts and geopolitical issues, the spot gold and silver prices have been rising steadily. Gold closed up 27 percent in 2024, the largest annual increase since 2010.
