The Hang Seng Index rose by 156 points to close at 26,025 points. Alibaba Cloud led the price hikes, driving a collective surge in AI concept stocks. Amid a pullback in biopharma stocks, investors may consider focusing on the newly listed EFunds Biopharma ETF.

U.S. officials reiterated that the conflict with Iran will end soon. With the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision approaching, Asia-Pacific stock markets generally performed well this morning, though Hong Kong stocks showed volatility early on. The Hang Seng Index opened 54 points higher but dropped at one point during the session, hitting a low of 25,791 points. In the afternoon, Alibaba ($BABA-W (09988.HK)$) announced that its subsidiary, Alibaba Cloud, suddenly raised prices for multiple services, including AI computing power and storage-related products. This news drove a rapid rise in AI concept stocks, pushing the Hang Seng Index’s gains to as much as 249 points, reaching a high of 26,117 points. It finally closed at 26,025 points, up 156 points or 0.6%, reclaiming the 26,000-point level for the third consecutive day, with a turnover of HKD 240.3 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index closed at 5,108 points, up less than 1 point, with a turnover of HKD 56.6 billion. The China Enterprises Index closed at 8,835 points, up 8 points or less than 0.1%, with a turnover of HKD 78.3 billion. Among blue chips, 58 stocks rose, 30 fell, and 2 remained unchanged, with a turnover of HKD 91.7 billion. Northbound capital inflow amounted to HKD 1.2 billion.

ZTO Express$ZTO EXPRESS-W (02057.HK)$ZTO Express announced a 10.1% year-on-year increase in net profit for Q4, along with a 12.3% rise in revenue. The company also declared a semi-annual cash dividend of $0.39 per share and approved a new $1.5 billion share repurchase plan, despite an 8.1% year-on-year drop in adjusted EBITDA. The stock price increased by RMB 13.6 or 7.44%, closing at RMB 196.4, making it the best-performing blue chip of the day.

Auto stocks collectively retreated today, Geely Auto $GEELY AUTO (00175.HK)$ reported a 25% increase in full-year revenue for last year, but net profit only rose by 0.2%. Despite achieving its annual sales target, it failed to boost market confidence; its share price fell by 0.69 yuan or 3.66%, closing at 18.15 yuan; Li Auto $LI AUTO-W (02015.HK)$ dropped by 4.45 yuan or 6.24%, closing at 66.85 yuan, making it the worst-performing blue-chip stock of the day; BYD $BYD COMPANY (01211.HK)$ fell by 2.3 yuan or 2.2%, closing at 102.2 yuan; Xpeng $XPENG-W (09868.HK)$ dropped by 2.55 yuan or 3.26%, closing at 75.65 yuan; Leapmotor $LEAPMOTOR (09863.HK)$ fell by 1.08 yuan or 2.38%, closing at 44.34 yuan.

Alibaba $BABA-W (09988.HK)$ 's cloud unit, Alibaba Cloud, announced a price hike, citing a global surge in AI demand and rising supply chain costs. Services related to the Pingtouge Zhenwu 810E computing card will increase by 5% to 34% starting from the 18th of next month, while storage services (CPFS Intelligent Computing Edition) will also rise by 30%. This news drove Alibaba's (9988) share price to sharply reverse losses into gains in the afternoon session, eventually closing up by 3.1 yuan or 2.3%, at 137.7 yuan; Baidu $BIDU-SW (09888.HK)$ promptly followed suit, announcing a maximum 30% price increase for its AI computing power and storage products, with its share price rising by 2.6 yuan or 2.18%, closing at 121.8 yuan; Tencent

NVIDIA confirmed on the same day that it had received orders for China’s H200 chips, further boosting sentiment in the AI sector and driving all related sectors higher across the board. MINIMAX $MINIMAX-W (00100.HK)$ Released the new generation flagship large model M2.7, showcasing for the first time the 'model self-evolution' path; stock price surged 205 yuan or 19.85%, closing at 1,238 yuan; Zhipu $KNOWLEDGE ATLAS (02513.HK)$ Rose 121 yuan or 19.47%, closing at 742.5 yuan, hitting a new all-time high since listing; GDS Holdings $GDS-SW (09698.HK)$ Post-earnings rose 6.08 yuan or 15.24%, closing at 45.98 yuan; Kingsoft Cloud (3896) rose 1.23 yuan or 18.17%, closing at 8 yuan; TianShu Zhipu $ILUVATAR COREX (09903.HK)$ Rose 37.6 yuan or 13.17%, closing at 323 yuan; Changfei Optical Fiber $YOFC (06869.HK)$ Rose 16.3 yuan or 11.64%, closing at 156.3 yuan; Gigadevice $GIGADEVICE (03986.HK)$ Rose 46.4 yuan or 11.5%, closing at 449.8 yuan.

A brokerage noted that the explosion in AI computing power demand will drive up inference computing power demand, with the electric power equipment industry expected to benefit. Electrical stocks strengthened in the afternoon, with Dongfang Electric $DONGFANG ELEC (01072.HK)$ Rose 3.92 yuan or 10.5%, closing at 41.18 yuan; Harbin Electric $HARBIN ELECTRIC (01133.HK)$ Rose 2.28 yuan or 9.9%, closing at 25.38 yuan; Shanghai Electric $SH ELECTRIC (02727.HK)$ Rose 0.2 yuan or 4.7%, closing at 4.5 yuan; Northeast Electric $NE ELECTRIC (00042.HK)$ Up 0.055 yuan or 4.1%, closing at 0.51 yuan.

The market is awaiting the Fed's interest rate decision, while a sharp rise in oil prices has reignited inflation concerns. Amidst the cautious sentiment, capital flowed into real estate and financial stocks. Sun Hung Kai Properties $SHK PPT (00016.HK)$ rose 4.4 yuan or 3.3%, closing at 137.8 yuan; Standard Chartered $STANCHART (02888.HK)$ rose 3.38%, closing at 166.6 yuan; Henderson Land $HENDERSON LAND (00012.HK)$ rose 5.44 yuan or 2.51%, closing at 32.64 yuan; HSBC $HSBC HOLDINGS (00005.HK)$ rose 3.1 yuan or 2.48%, closing at 127.9 yuan; Cheung Kong Holdings $CK ASSET (01113.HK)$ rose 1.1 yuan or 2.35%, closing at 47.94 yuan; New World Development $NEW WORLD DEV (00017.HK)$ rose 0.18 yuan or 1.96%, closing at 9.38 yuan.

In other individual stock performances, Tencent Music $TME-SW (01698.HK)$ reported Q1 and full-year earnings below market expectations and faced bearish calls from major banks, with its shares plummeting 12.48 yuan or 21.8%, closing at 44.72 yuan, making it the biggest decliner on the Hang Seng Tech Index for the day; Kingboard Group $KINGBOARD HLDG (00148.HK)$ Sold subsidiary Kingboard Laminates at an 8.7% discount $KB LAMINATES (01888.HK)$ Up to 130 million shares, Kingboard Group rose by 0.92 or 2.4%, closing at 39.58 yuan, while Kingboard Laminates fell by 0.98 or 4.3%, closing at 22.02 yuan.

In the oil sector, international oil prices retreated, with CNOOC $CNOOC (00883.HK)$ Down 0.5 yuan or 1.7%, closing at 28.3 yuan; PetroChina $PETROCHINA (00857.HK)$ Down 0.1 yuan or 0.9%, closing at 10.48 yuan; Sinopec $SINOPEC CORP (00386.HK)$ Closed flat at 4.78 yuan.

CMB International released a research report stating that the MSCI China Healthcare Index has risen 0.6% year-to-date in 2026, outperforming the MSCI China Index by 3.5%. The pharmaceutical industry has seen a significant pullback recently, particularly in the innovative drug sector where the decline was more pronounced. However, following recent policy catalysts from the government work report listing biomedicine as an emerging pillar industry, risk appetite for the sector has shown mild recovery. Overseas licensing deals for Chinese innovative drugs remain active, with 44 deals totaling over $53 billion completed in the first two months of 2026, reflecting growing global market recognition of China's biopharmaceutical competitiveness. Investors optimistic about dual U.S.-China biomedical development may consider the upcoming CSOP Biomedical ETF $EFund Biophar ETF (03186.HK)$ With a minimum lot size of 100 shares, initial investment of 1,500 yuan, and an annual management fee of 0.9%. This ETF is the world’s first cross-market biomedical ETF spanning Hong Kong and the U.S., selecting 100 leading companies across both markets including Hengrui Pharma $HENGRUI PHARMA (01276.HK)$ BeiGene, $BEONE MEDICINES (06160.HK)$ , Eli Lilly and Co ( $Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.US)$ ), Johnson & Johnson ( $Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US)$ Top pharmaceutical companies in both China and the US, such as Hengrui Pharma and Eli Lilly and Co. The ETF tracks an equally weighted index, effectively avoiding over-concentration in individual giants while increasing allocation to small and medium-sized innovative firms, offering the potential for excess returns from significant new drug approvals. Since its base date, the index has risen by 140.31% cumulatively. Investors should note that this ETF is concentrated in the biopharmaceutical sector, with higher volatility in net asset value, making it suitable for investors optimistic about the long-term development of the global biopharmaceutical industry.

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