Market awaits second round of US-Iran talks, Hang Seng Index up 126 points. South Korean stocks hit new highs as memory leader SK Hynix is about to release earnings; optimistic outlook for semiconductor sector, consider the E Fund Asia Semiconductor Select Index ETF.

The ceasefire deadline between the US and Iran is approaching, with reports indicating that the second round of talks is planned for Wednesday in Pakistan. The market is assessing the follow-up developments of the US-Iran negotiations, resulting in a cautious sentiment. The three major US stock indexes slightly pulled back, while the Asia-Pacific stock markets were more optimistic, with South Korean stocks rising 2.7% to new highs, Taiwan stocks up 1.8% to new records, and Japanese stocks increasing by 0.9%. The Hong Kong stock market opened 81 points higher but briefly fell 19 points to 26,342 points in early trading. In the afternoon, the rise of mainland Chinese A-shares drove Hong Kong stocks upward, gaining up to 168 points at its peak, reaching 26,529 points. It finally closed at 26,487 points, up 126 points or 0.48%, with a turnover of 205.1 billion Hong Kong dollars. The Hang Seng Tech Index closed at 5,061 points, down 4 points or 0.08%; the China Enterprises Index closed at 8,943 points, up 44 points or 0.5%. Among the 59 blue chips, 59 increased and 30 decreased. Southbound capital net inflow amounted to 3.738 billion Hong Kong dollars.

CATL ($CATL (03750.HK)$ CATL held a 'Super Technology Day' event this evening, where the market expects the company to focus on announcing breakthrough technologies and products such as sodium-ion batteries. This drove its share price up 33.5 yuan or 4.77% for the day, closing at 736 yuan. During trading, it reached a high of 745 yuan, setting a record closing high since its IPO, making it the best-performing blue chip of the day.

New consumer concepts performed strongly today across the board, with Bruck ($BLOKS (00325.HK)$ ) surging 7.15 yuan or 11.39%, closing at 69.9 yuan; Mixue Group ($MIXUE GROUP (02097.HK)$ ) rose by 16.4 yuan or 5.6%, closing at 309.2 yuan; Mao Geping ($MAO GEPING (01318.HK)$ ) rose by 3.45 yuan or 4.63%, closing at 78.05 yuan; Pop Mart ($POP MART (09992.HK)$ ) rose by 3.5 yuan or 2.18%, closing at 164.4 yuan.

Tech stocks showed mixed performance, Baidu ($BIDU-SW (09888.HK)$ ) rose by 1.8 yuan or 1.47%, closing at 124.6 yuan; Meituan ($MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$ ) rose by 1.3 yuan or 1.53%, closing at 86.45 yuan; JD.com ($JD-SW (09618.HK)$ ) rose by 0.6 yuan or 0.49%, closing at 123 yuan; Xiaomi ($XIAOMI-W (01810.HK)$ ) rose by 0.08 yuan or 0.25%, closing at 32.4 yuan; Tencent ($TENCENT (00700.HK)$ ) fell by 3.5 yuan or 0.67%, closing at 519 yuan; Alibaba ($BABA-W (09988.HK)$ ) fell by 0.7 yuan or 0.51%, closing at 136.3 yuan; Kuaishou ($KUAISHOU-W (01024.HK)$ ) fell 1.3%, closing at HKD 46.38; Bilibili ($BILIBILI-W (09626.HK)$ ) dropped by HKD 5.9 or 3.02%.

Biotech stocks saw collective profit-taking today. Wuxi Apptec ($WUXI APPTEC (02359.HK)$ ) fell by HKD 2.8 or 2.26%, closing at HKD 121; Hansoh Pharma ($HANSOH PHARMA (03692.HK)$ ) dropped by HKD 0.86 or 2.16%, closing at HKD 39.04; China Biologic Products ($SBP GROUP (01177.HK)$ ) fell by HKD 0.13 or 2.19%, closing at HKD 5.82; Innovent Bio ($INNOVENT BIO (01801.HK)$ ) fell by HKD 1.25 or 1.37%, closing at HKD 89.85. Senior Vice President of Hardware Engineering, John Ternus, will take over as Apple's CEO in September, with Tim Cook transitioning to Executive Chairman; however, the news failed to boost Apple-related stocks. Sunny Optical ($SUNNY OPTICAL (02382.HK)$ ) dropped by HKD 1.6 or 2.42%, closing at HKD 64.65, marking it as the worst-performing blue-chip stock of the day; AAC Technologies ($AAC TECH (02018.HK)$ ) fell by HKD 0.2 or 0.52%, closing at HKD 38.36.

Newly-listed stocks and AI-related concept stocks remain active. Shengyi Technology (leading PCB company) ($VGT (02476.HK)$ ) debuted today, closing at HKD 315, a surge of 50.1% compared to the IPO price of HKD 209.88. Investors gained HKD 10,512 per lot on paper. Chang Guangchenxin ($GPIXEL (03277.HK)$ ) announced a partnership with Leica Camera to co-develop next-generation high-performance CMOS image sensors. Its share price surged by HKD 25.9 or 36.17%, closing at HKD 97.5; ClusterCore Technology ($MANYCORE TECH (00068.HK)$ ) has risen over fourfold since its listing three days ago, with another increase of 3.63% today, closing at HKD 38.8; Foxconn Interconnect Technology ($FIH (02038.HK)$ ) benefited from Hon Hai's Industrial AI announcing it has started producing samples of CPO all-optical switches and will ship over 10,000 units this year. This news drove up Foxconn Interconnect Technology by HKD 3.66 or 16.46%, closing at HKD 25.9, hitting an all-time high; Kingboard Laminates ($KB LAMINATES (01888.HK)$ ) rose by HKD 2.4 or 8.47%, closing at HKD 30.74; Kingboard Group ($KINGBOARD HLDG (00148.HK)$ ) increased by HKD 2.72 or 6.53%, closing at HKD 44.4; ASMPT ($ASMPT (00522.HK)$ ), a semiconductor equipment stock, climbed by HKD 9.5 or 6.85%, closing at HKD 148.1; Innoscience ($INNOSCIENCE (02577.HK)$ ) rose by HKD 4.7 or 7.83%, closing at HKD 64.7; SMIC ($SMIC (00981.HK)$ ) increased by HKD 0.3 or 0.5%, closing at HKD 60.1; Hua Hong Semiconductor ($HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK)$ ) rose by HKD 0.95 or 1.01%, closing at HKD 95.4. Large AI model stocks consolidated near their highs, with Zhipu ($KNOWLEDGE ATLAS (02513.HK)$ ) dropped by 25 yuan or 2.56%, closing at 950 yuan; MINIMAX ($MINIMAX-W (00100.HK)$ ) fell by 13 yuan or 1.43%, closing at 898.5 yuan; Unisound (9678) dropped by 26.8 yuan or 6.91%, closing at 361 yuan.

China Mobile ($CHINA MOBILE (00941.HK)$ ) Q1 net profit declined by 4.2% year-on-year, but the net cash flow from operating activities increased by 1.28 times year-on-year; the share price rose by 1.9 yuan or 2.32%, closing at 83.7 yuan; CCB ($CCB (00939.HK)$ ) rose by 0.08 yuan or 0.9%, closing at 8.96 yuan, hitting a record high; ICBC ($ICBC (01398.HK)$ ) gained 0.07 yuan or 0.97%, closing at 7.26 yuan, reaching an all-time high; BOC ($BANK OF CHINA (03988.HK)$ ) added 0.04 yuan or 0.77%, closing at 5.25 yuan, marking a new historical high; AIA ($AIA (01299.HK)$ ) fell by 0.7 yuan or 0.84%, closing at 82.8 yuan. Vision Holdings ($WASION HOLDINGS (03393.HK)$ ) conducted a discounted placement through a 'top-up and then new' approach, dropping 5.14% for the day, closing at 30.3 yuan; Tianqi Lithium ($TIANQI LITHIUM (09696.HK)$ ) forecasted strong earnings with a net profit of 1.7 to 2 billion yuan, surpassing market expectations; its stock price surged over 9% at one point, but closed up only 0.45 yuan or 0.77%, finishing at 58.7 yuan.

The continued surge in AI computing power demand remains a key catalyst for the global semiconductor sector. Since March, price hikes have swept through memory and wafer foundry segments, with the industry transitioning from inventory reduction to restocking. The supply-demand gap for high-bandwidth memory continues to widen, and leading memory companies like SK Hynix are seeing full order books. The market holds an optimistic outlook on its Q1 earnings report, scheduled for this Thursday (23rd), driving the stock up over 5% at one point, hitting a new all-time high. Taiwan Semiconductor's recently announced Q1 results exceeded expectations, and management’s upbeat forecast on AI demand during their earnings call has injected strong confidence into the entire computing power supply chain. Boosted by the semiconductor sector, South Korea’s KOSPI index closed today at its intraday high, rising 2.72% to 6,388 points, marking a record closing high, with a year-to-date increase of 51.59%. Investors seeking to capitalize on the entire Asian semiconductor value chain may consider the E Fund Asia Semiconductor Select Index ETF.$EFund A SEMICON ETF (03486.HK)$ , which closed today at 17.18 yuan, up 0.45 yuan or 2.69%. This ETF selects 30 leading semiconductor companies from Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, including Taiwan Semiconductor, SK Hynix, SMIC ($SMIC (00981.HK)$ ), Huahong Semiconductor ($HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK)$ ), and ASMPT ($ASMPT (00522.HK)$ ), covering core segments such as wafer foundry, memory, equipment, and packaging/testing, with each lot consisting of 100 shares. Since its base date in March 2020, the index has delivered a cumulative return of 426%, with returns of 72% over the past year and 185% over the past two years. Investors should note that this ETF is concentrated in the semiconductor sector, carrying industry and geographic concentration risks, with higher NAV volatility. Past performance of the index does not guarantee future fund performance, making it suitable for investors optimistic about the long-term development of Asia’s semiconductor sector and sustained growth in AI computing power demand.

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