China Equities Edge Slightly Higher, HK  Lower On Soft Tech Prices

Hong Kong and Mainland China markets are mixed today with tech firms leading the losses, echoing the declines seen in their U.S. counterparts. In Hong Kong, significant sell-offs in major Chinese tech stocks like Baidu and NetEase weighed heavily on the market, despite Alibaba's announcement of upgrading its shares to primary status in the city. This move is expected to allow Alibaba to join a connect scheme with the mainland, potentially opening up access to more than 200 million Chinese investors and generating up to $19.5 billion, according to estimates. However, these positive developments were overshadowed by broader concerns over the global economic outlook and uncertainty surrounding U.S. monetary policy, while many investors wait on the sidelines for Powell speech at Jackson Hole later today.

• Hong Kong's HSI is down 0.30%, with HSTech down 1.35%, HS Property down 0.65%, HS China Enterprise down 0.30%. In China, the CSI300 is up 0.60%, Shanghai Comp up 0.30%, while small-caps indices are up about 0.15%.
• There hasn't been much in the way of headlines out of the region today with focus largely on earnings. Weibo beat estimates, Baidu sales have stalled with revenue missing expectations, & NetEase report poor game segment numbers.
• It could be a rather subdued week for China equities with 1yr MLF rate on Monday and Industrial Profit data on Tuesday, while in Hong Kong we have trade balance on Tuesday and retail sales on Friday, focus will largely be on earnings results.