HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks advanced on Thursday, driven by the tech sector, as investors continued to bet on domestic artificial intelligence firms following Chinese AI start-up DeepSeek’s breakthrough.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.26% at the close, and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.27% to 3,270.66 points, a five-week high.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong closed up 1.43% at 20,891.62, a three-month high.
AI-related sectors led gains in both onshore and offshore markets. The CSI Semiconductor Industry Index surged 5.08%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 2.62% to the highest level since last October.
Shares of chipmaker Naura surged 8.8%, their biggest single-day advance in nearly three months, while SMIC’s Hong Kong-listed shares rallied nearly 7.16% to a record high.
Enthusiasm for domestic AI-related firms showed no signs of abating after DeepSeek disrupted the global industry last month with advanced models at low cost.
“DeepSeek’s breakthrough is driving a renewed confidence in China’s AI sector and it will continue to be a key market theme,” analysts at China Securities said in a note.
It is challenging the prevailing notion that China lags several years behind U.S. competitors in the AI race, and the sector could chart its own course in a revaluation despite global volatility, they added.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.44% while Japan’s Nikkei index was up 0.61%.
