Tech stocks under pressure, Hang Seng Index falls 245 points. CATL's stock price plunges after share placement; Wuxi Apptec surges post-results. For high-dividend ETFs, consider Fubon SSE-SZSE-HK High Dividend ETF.

With geopolitical risks in the Middle East easing, markets are also awaiting the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and guidance. Asia-Pacific equities softened in the afternoon. Taiwan’s market, lifted by chip stocks, briefly touched 40,000 points but closed lower. Hong Kong shares opened down 111 points, narrowing losses to just 28 points at one stage, but selling pressure on tech stocks re-intensified in the afternoon, with the Hang Seng falling as much as 316 points to hit a low of 25,609. The market steadied slightly towards the close, ending at 25,679, down 245 points or 0.95%, with turnover at HKD 262.3 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index closed at 4,827, down 112 points or 2.28%; the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index ended at 8,644, down 111 points or 1.27%. Of the 90 blue chips, 61 fell. Southbound capital net inflow reached HKD 14.523 billion, the highest in a week.

WuXi AppTec ($WUXI APPTEC (02359.HK)$Wuxi Apptec ( ) saw its Q1 adjusted non-IFRS profit increase 72% year-on-year. Major banks predict that the stock will continue to rise in the next month. Following this news, the stock surged 17.1 yuan or 13.57%, closing at 143.1 yuan, setting a new all-time high, and being the best-performing blue chip of the day. Fellow subsidiary Wuxi Bio (2269) rose 0.42 yuan or 1.3%, closing at 33.7 yuan; Wuxi XDC ($WUXI XDC (02268.HK)$ ) up 1.25 yuan or 2.2%, closing at 59.25 yuan; Junshi Biosciences ($JUNSHI BIO (01877.HK)$ ) up 1.16 yuan or 4.4%, closing at 27.24 yuan;康龍化成($PHARMARON (03759.HK)$ ) up 1.22 yuan or 5.92%, closing at 21.82 yuan.

CATL ($CATL (03750.HK)$ ) announced a discounted placement of shares at 7% below market price, with a placement price of 628.2 yuan, raising approximately 39.2 billion yuan. The news weighed on the stock, which plunged as much as 9% during the session. It closed down 46.5 yuan or 6.88%, at 629 yuan, making it the worst-performing blue-chip stock of the day.

Apple concept stocks were under pressure across the board today. Qualcomm is reportedly participating in OpenAI's development of an AI-focused smartphone, expected to enter mass production by 2028. Overnight, Apple ( $Apple (AAPL.US)$ ) shares fell 1.3%, weighing on related Hong Kong-listed stocks. AAC Technologies ($AAC TECH (02018.HK)$ ) fell 3.3 yuan or 8.33%, closing at 36.3 yuan; Q Technology ($Q TECH (01478.HK)$ ) dropped 0.63 yuan or 7.29%, closing at 8.01 yuan; Sunny Optical ($SUNNY OPTICAL (02382.HK)$ ) dropped 4.15 yuan or 6.23%, closing at 62.45 yuan; BYD Electronics ($BYD ELECTRONIC (00285.HK)$ ) fell 1.44 yuan or 5.2%, closing at 26.24 yuan. Optical fiber company Cambridge Technology ($CIG (06166.HK)$ ) Lock-up period for cornerstone investors has expired, plummeting 21.9 yuan or 16.45% throughout the day, closing at 111.2 yuan; Changfei Optical Fiber ($YOFC (06869.HK)$ ) dropped 9.6 yuan or 4.06%, closing at 226.6 yuan; Hon Hai Precision ($FIT HON TENG (06088.HK)$ ) fell 0.64 yuan or 7.62%, closing at 7.76 yuan; ZTE ($ZTE (00763.HK)$ ) dropped 1.06 yuan or 4.15%, closing at 24.46 yuan.

Tech stocks generally weakened today, dragging down the broader market. Alibaba ($BABA-W (09988.HK)$ ) received approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to spin off its Jiaxing Park for listing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, but its share price fell 3.7 yuan or 2.84%, closing at 126.5 yuan; Xiaomi ($XIAOMI-W (01810.HK)$ ) fell 1.18 yuan or 3.79%, closing at 29.92 yuan; Kuaishou ($KUAISHOU-W (01024.HK)$ ) dropped 1.36 yuan or 3.12%, closing at 42.28 yuan; Meituan ($MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$ ) fell 1.55 yuan or 1.89%, closing at 80.3 yuan; Baidu ($BIDU-SW (09888.HK)$ ) dropped 2.4 yuan or 1.91%, closing at 123.3 yuan; JD.com ($JD-SW (09618.HK)$ ) dropped by 1.7 yuan or 1.45%, closing at 115.3 yuan; Tencent ($TENCENT (00700.HK)$ ) fell by 4.8 yuan or 1%, closing at 473.8 yuan. AI concept stock Zhipu ($KNOWLEDGE ATLAS (02513.HK)$ ) plunged by 114.5 yuan or 12.52%, closing at 800 yuan, hitting a 10-day low; Xunce ($XUNCE (03317.HK)$ ) tumbled another 45 yuan or 14.75%, closing at 260 yuan; MINIMAX ($MINIMAX-W (00100.HK)$ ) declined by 26.5 yuan or 3.53%, closing at 723.5 yuan; Insilico Medicine ($INSILICO (03696.HK)$ ) dropped by 3.65 yuan or 5.54%, closing at 62.2 yuan. Cloud service provider Kingsoft Cloud ($KINGSOFT CLOUD (03896.HK)$ ) fell by 0.53 yuan or 6.11%, closing at 8.14 yuan; GDS Holdings ($GDS-SW (09698.HK)$ ) dropped by 2.1 yuan or 4.78%, closing at 41.86 yuan; Recently hyped chip stock SMIC ($SMIC (00981.HK)$ ) retreated by 2.2 yuan or 3.22%, closing at 66.05 yuan; Huahong Semiconductor ($HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK)$ ) fell by 1.3 yuan or 1.13%, closing at 113.3 yuan; Changguang Chenguang ($GPIXEL (03277.HK)$ ) rose against the market trend by 3.7 yuan or 4.57%, closing at 84.6 yuan; ASMPT ($ASMPT (00522.HK)$ ) increased by 4 yuan or 2.41%, closing at 169.8 yuan, hitting a new all-time high; Kingboard Laminates ($KB LAMINATES (01888.HK)$ ) AI infrastructure concept continues to gain momentum, rising by 2.44 yuan or 7.35%, closing at 35.62 yuan, reaching a record high.

Auto stocks were under pressure across the board today, BYD ($BYD COMPANY (01211.HK)$ ) launched the pre-sale of its second-generation Tengshi D9 all-electric version, but the stock still fell by 2.3 yuan or 2.17%, closing at 103.5 yuan; XPeng Motors ($XPENG-W (09868.HK)$ ) dropped by 2.6 yuan or 4.05%, closing at 61.6 yuan; Li Auto (2015) fell by 2.7 yuan or 3.87%, closing at 67 yuan; Leapmotor (9863) declined by 1.66 yuan or 3.51%, closing at 45.58 yuan; Nio ($NIO-SW (09866.HK)$ ) decreased by 1.87 yuan or 3.73%, closing at 48.28 yuan; Great Wall Motor ($GWMOTOR (02333.HK)$ ) fell by 0.57 yuan or 4.58%, closing at 11.88 yuan; BAIC Group ($BAIC MOTOR (01958.HK)$ ) reported a net loss of 830 million yuan in Q1, with its stock price dropping by 0.11 yuan or 7.29%, closing at 1.4 yuan.

Coal stocks performed well against the market trend today, China Coal Energy ($CHINA COAL (01898.HK)$ First-quarter net profit fell 3.2% year-on-year, but high oil prices fueled market optimism about coal prices, causing the stock price to rise against the trend by 0.97 yuan or 7.13%, closing at 14.58 yuan; China Shenhua ($CHINA SHENHUA (01088.HK)$ ) rose by 0.94 yuan or 2%, closing at 48.2 yuan; Yanzhou Energy Group ($YANKUANG ENERGY (01171.HK)$ ) rose by 0.28 yuan or 1.9%, closing at 15.26 yuan. PetroChina ($PETROCHINA (00857.HK)$ ) rose by 0.21 yuan or 1.83%, closing at 11.67 yuan, hitting a 3-year high.

In other individual stocks, China Hongqiao ($CHINAHONGQIAO (01378.HK)$ ) plans to issue convertible bonds worth 10.2 billion yuan at a premium of approximately 25.3% and simultaneously repurchase shares. The initial conversion price is 43.9 yuan. The stock price fell by 1.7 yuan or 4.85%, closing at 33.34 yuan; 361 Degrees ($361 DEGREES (01361.HK)$ ) raised over 600 million yuan through a placement at a discount of 10.7% to expand overseas markets. The stock plummeted throughout the day by 1.42 yuan or 20.52%, closing at 5.5 yuan; Haier Smart Home ($HAIER SMARTHOME (06690.HK)$ ) reported first-quarter earnings of 4.7 billion yuan, down 15% year-on-year. The group also announced plans to repurchase up to 81 million D-shares. The stock price rose against the trend by 0.82 yuan or 3.93%, closing at 21.68 yuan.

In terms of new stocks, photonic-electric hybrid computing power supplier Xichuang Technology ($XIZHI TECH-P (01879.HK)$ ) debuted today, closing at 886 yuan, surging by 702.8 yuan or 383.62% from its IPO price of 183.2 yuan. A gain of 10,542 yuan on a single lot; pharmaceutical company Maiwei Biotech ($MABWELL-B (02493.HK)$ The stock closed at HKD 27.8 on the listing day, up 0.57% from the IPO price of HKD 27.64, showing stable performance.

Today's market was broadly under pressure, with multiple stocks sold off due to share placement news, leading to a more cautious market sentiment. China Hongqiao's stock dropped 4.85% today following its plan to issue convertible bonds. However, from a mid-to-long-term perspective, the aluminum industry stands to benefit from rising energy costs driven by Middle Eastern tensions and tightening global aluminum supply chains, indicating fundamental support for the sector. Amid ongoing geopolitical risks and unpredictable market volatility, high-dividend ETF leaders are experiencing pullbacks. For investors inclined to deploy high-yield defensive strategies to hedge against market uncertainty, attention can be paid to the Fubon SSE-SZSE-Hang Seng High Dividend ETF ($Fubon Hang Seng Shanghai-Shenzhen-Hong Kong (Selected Corporations) High Dividend Yield Index ETF (03190.HK)$ ), which closed today at HKD 18.01, down 0.44%. This ETF primarily tracks the Hang Seng SSE-SZSE-Hong Kong (Selected Companies) High Dividend Yield Index, covering defensive sectors such as energy, finance, building materials, and industrials. Its components include large enterprises like COSCO Shipping Holdings ($COSCO SHIP HOLD (01919.HK)$ ), and China Hongqiao ($CHINAHONGQIAO (01378.HK)$ ) and CNOOC ($CNOOC (00883.HK)$ ). Even if individual constituent stocks experience short-term fluctuations due to news events, holding diversified high-dividend leaders through an ETF helps reduce single-stock concentration risk. Additionally, the Fubon SSE-SZSE-Hang Seng High Dividend ETF aims for quarterly distributions, with the latest data showing a dividend of HKD 0.2 per share, yielding approximately 5.8%. This makes it a suitable reference for long-term investors seeking stable cash flow in volatile markets and preferring high-dividend defensive allocations.

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