Hong Kong stocks rise as rallies from Alibaba, SMIC, other tech giants lift market sentiment

Hong Kong stocks extended their gains on Wednesday afternoon as concerns over a wave of lock-up expiries, long seen as a major headwind for the city’s equities, showed early signs of easing, while surging rallies in tech heavyweights lifted broader market sentiment.The Hang Seng Index, which entered the noon break up 2.4 per cent, continued to climb in the afternoon session as of 1.30pm. The Hang Seng Tech Index heavily outpaced the broader market, expanding its gains past 4.8 per cent as institutional buyers piled back into mega-cap internet and hardware names, despite renewed Geopolitical Tensions in the Middle East.Leading the afternoon change was e-commerce giant Alibaba, which saw its gains widen to a stunning 9.4 per cent. Semiconductor bellwether SMIC surged nearly 8 per cent, reflecting resilient domestic tech demand, while short-video platform Kuaishou and smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi jumped over 8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.