Asian equities fell broadly on Wednesday, mirroring Wall Street’s cautious tone after sticky U.S. inflation and renewed concerns over President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff strategy weighed on sentiment.
But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index defied the trend, rising as much as 0.8%—fueled by strong gains in tech giants after NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) confirmed it will resume sales of key AI chips in China.
Hong Kong was the regional outperformer, led by:
Baidu (HK:9888): +3% after announcing a robotaxi partnership with Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER).
Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent also extended prior-day gains, as access to Nvidia’s advanced AI chips revives Chinese ambitions in generative AI and machine learning.
These firms, along with ByteDance and DeepSeek, are positioned at the center of China's AI acceleration, a strategic focus amid ongoing geopolitical tech rivalries.
In contrast, mainland indexes were muted:
Shanghai Composite: -0.2%
CSI 300: -0.2%
China’s second-quarter GDP data came in mixed, raising worries of a deeper-than-expected slowdown in the coming quarters. Analysts flagged headwinds in consumer demand and real estate as key drags.
U.S. inflation data remained sticky, limiting hopes for aggressive Fed rate cuts.
Trump’s August 1 tariffs loom large, particularly for Asian exporters.
Regional currency moves were subdued amid global uncertainty.
For daily sector-level breakdowns, you can use the
📊 Sector Historical API to analyze how key industries across Asia and the U.S. are reacting to economic and policy shifts.
Bottom Line:
While Hong Kong tech stocks are basking in Nvidia-led AI momentum, mainland China’s economic fragility and U.S. policy uncertainty are casting a longer shadow across the region. Traders are closely watching earnings and macro data for direction.
