Hong Kong Stocks Drop 0.83% in Morning Session; Gold Stocks Lead Gains
Alina Collins
The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.83% to 24,923 at the July 22 midday break on turnover of HK$169.3 billion; gold stocks surged as spot gold topped $4,100 an ounce, with capital rotating from tech into resources.
How far did the market fall — and where did the money go?
The Hang Seng lost 208 points to 24,923; the Hang Seng Tech Index widened its decline to 2.11%.
Tech stocks led losses, but gold and copper miners bucked the trend. Midday turnover hit HK$169.3 billion.
This means → capital did not leave the market — it rotated out of tech into resource plays with harder safe-haven and pricing logic.
Why did gold miners rally across the board?
Spot gold broke through $4,100 per ounce. Markets expect continued central-bank buying to put a floor under gold prices.
Chifeng Gold (06693) rose 14%, Lingbao Gold (03330) gained 16%, and Wanguo Gold (03939) jumped over 10% — each now up more than 40% for the month.
In plain terms = central banks keep buying gold, so the metal has a "floor price"; gold miners ride that floor and often move faster than the metal itself.
What is driving the copper rally?
Storms in Chile curtailed some copper-mine output. Simultaneously, China's electrolytic-copper social inventory hit a year-to-date low — supply contraction and inventory depletion at the same time.
MMG (01208) rose 10%, China Nonferrous Mining (01258) gained 8%, and Zijin Mining (02899) added 7%.
This means → the copper supply-demand gap is widening. Miners here follow a "less supply, higher price" logic — a different driver from gold stocks.
Which individual stocks surged the most, and why?
Jiaxin International Resources (03858) climbed another 12%+. The company earned about HK$1.5 billion in the first half and plans to buy back up to HK$200 million of shares in H2 — a double catalyst of earnings plus buybacks.
ZTE (00763) jumped over 10% after its Nubia NaviX Ultra debuted at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, featuring Doubao's phone assistant.
Lion Group (02562) surged more than 19%, launching its Geene 2.0 smart ecosystem and extending its tech strategy into enterprise AI.
Any signals from chips and consumer names?
Montage Technology (06809) rose over 12%. Shipments of its DDR5 RCD chips — core chips that manage memory data channels — grew significantly; Citi called its fundamentals strong.
Huaqin Technology (03296) gained more than 14%, guiding full-year revenue from its hyper-node product line alone past RMB 10 billion.
Lee & Man Paper (02314) advanced another 7%+ on a mid-term profit forecast up to 71% higher; Citi raised its earnings estimates and target price.
What other notable moves stand out?
COSCO Shipping Energy (01138) rose over 5%. Brokers argue renewed U.S.–Iran tensions are unlikely to reverse the positive trend in oil shipping.
Insilico Medicine (03696) gained more than 5%, with first-half revenue surging and net profit turning positive.
Kingboard Laminates (01888) fell over 5% after shareholders and senior management reduced their stakes — one of the few blue chips to drop noticeably at midday.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.