Hong Kong stocks decline, taking cues from US rout on jitters about AI disruption



Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, trimming a weekly gain, after a sell-off resumed on Wall Street on renewed concerns that artificial intelligence would disrupt business models across multiple industries.

The Hang Seng Index slid 1.1 per cent to 26,728.14 as of 9.48am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.7 per cent.

On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index both retreated 0.4 per cent.

Search engine operator Baidu slumped 3.9 per cent to HK$143.80, Alibaba Group Holding tumbled 3 per cent to HK$154 and Tencent Holdings lost 1.9 per cent to HK$525.50. Zijin Mining Group dropped 3.1 per cent to HK$43.64, tracking a pullback in gold prices.

Key US equity indexes posted their biggest declines in three weeks overnight as jitters returned over the ability of new AI models to automate workflows, potentially decimating industries from software and logistics to wealth management. The shake-up reflects that investors have started to reassess the potential fallout of AI after years of frenzied investment that fuelled valuation expansion in tech stocks.

Sell-offs also whiplashed the commodity markets, with both gold and silver slumping as traders unwound their positions to cover soured bets on equities.

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