Hong Kong stocks under pressure in midday: Technology stocks fell across the board, with NetEase leading the sector with a 13% surge against the trend

Gelonghui News on May 16thOn Thursday, the Hong Kong stock market continued its adjustment trend in early trading, with all three major indexes weakening across the board. The Hang Seng Index and Hang Seng State Owned Enterprises Index both fell more than 1% during trading. As of midday closing, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.81%, the Chinese Composite Index fell 0.83%, and the Hang Seng Technology Index fell slightly by 0.57%. Despite the limited overall decline, the two consecutive days of weakness reflect a cautious market sentiment.

Technology stocks lead decline: Alibaba drops 5%, NetEase leads strong gains
The market focus is on the technology heavyweight sector, with most leading stocks experiencing a downturn due to lower than expected financial reports. Alibaba's decline exceeded 5%, and its quarterly revenue and profit did not meet market expectations, becoming the leading focus of the decline. Meituan, Kwai and Jingdong all declined by more than 2%, while Baidu also declined by 1.5%.
Relatively speaking, NetEase has performed outstandingly, with its stock price soaring by 13% after the release of its first quarter financial report, leading the Hang Seng Technology Index. The financial report shows that NetEase's Q1 revenue increased by 7.4% year-on-year to 28.8 billion yuan, and net profit increased by 35.5% year-on-year to 10.3 billion yuan. The gaming business continued to grow steadily.

Weighted sectors are under pressure, while finance, oil, and infrastructure are declining
In addition to the technology sector, traditional heavyweight stocks such as finance, energy, and infrastructure are also showing signs of fatigue. Banks, insurance, and brokerage stocks mostly fell, while individual stocks in the oil and heavy infrastructure sectors performed poorly. The interior and building materials cement sectors continue to decline, reflecting the market's reserved attitude towards the macro environment.

Pharmaceutical and gold concept stocks strengthen against the trend
In the medical sector, affected by the recent rise of COVID-19 infection cases in some cities, the anti epidemic concept stocks rose significantly. Xinhua Pharmaceutical surged nearly 16% at one point, while Sansheng Pharmaceutical rose 7.7%. Experts say that although the new wave of the epidemic is still under control, the risks for the elderly still need to be vigilant. As an important global supplier of antipyretic and analgesic drugs, Xinhua Pharmaceutical's product layout supports its market performance.

The gold sector also generally rose, benefiting from the overnight rebound in international gold prices, with spot gold briefly breaking through $3240 per ounce. China Gold International rose nearly 5%. UBS precious metals strategist predicts that gold prices are expected to rise to $3500 per ounce in the long term, and may reach a high of $3600 in 2026.

The concept of air logistics is strengthening, and China Southern Airlines once rose nearly 6%
Against the backdrop of the adjustment of tariff policies in the United States, China's air cargo volume to the United States has grown rapidly. Huahu Airport has doubled the number of flights to the United States this week, with cargo volume increasing to 2400 tons. Affected by this positive news, China Southern Airlines saw an intraday increase of nearly 6%. The market expects a rebound in demand for cross-border e-commerce and electronic products between China and the United States, which will drive synchronous growth in shipping prices and revenue for the three major shipping companies.

The concept of AI continues to receive attention, and the performance of the fourth paradigm is impressive
The fourth paradigm of AI enterprises announced a year-on-year increase of 30.1% in Q1 revenue, reaching 1.077 billion yuan; The gross profit margin remains at 41.2%. Benefiting from the continuous expansion of enterprise service business and the strategic layout of the consumer electronics sector, the stock price surged more than 8% in early trading. The company is entering emerging fields such as wearable devices through AI Agent modules, becoming a potential target of market attention.

Alibaba's financial report falls short, causing market concerns
Alibaba's stock price plummeted after the release of its fourth quarter financial report for the fiscal year 2025. Despite a year-on-year increase of 6.57% in revenue to 236.45 billion yuan and a net profit of 29.85 billion yuan, it is still lower than market expectations. Although the AI and cloud business sectors have maintained a growth trend, especially with AI product revenue achieving triple digit growth for seven consecutive quarters, the overall performance release has not met market expectations, triggering short-term market adjustments.