HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares fell on Friday as the local market reopened after the three-day Lunar New Year break, with technology stocks leading the slide, though oil shares provided some support as concerns of conflict between the U.S. and Iran sent crude prices higher.
Traders said investors stayed away from technology stocks on concern over geopolitical tension between China and the U.S. and as a Chinese regulator stepped in to warn against competition among platform operators.
China's humanoid robots-related stocks climbed as the robots took centre stage for Lunar New Year showtime in the annual CCTV Spring Festival gala on Monday, showcasing the country's cutting-edge industrial policy and Beijing's push to dominate humanoid robots and the future of manufacturing.
The Hang Seng Index ended down 1.1% at 26,413.35, while the Chinese H-share index listed in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, fell 1.22% to 8,959.56.
The top gainer on the Hang Seng was PetroChina, up 3.7%, while the biggest loser was JD Health International Inc , which fell 6.27%.
The top gainers among H-shares were BeOne Medicines AG, up 4.18%, followed by PetroChina and CSPC Pharmaceutical, which was up 2.63%.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were JD Health International, Baidu Inc, which lost 6.25% and Alibaba Group, down by 4.91%.
Humanoid robots-related stocks climbed with Zhejiang Sanhua Intelligent Controls up 5.6% while Shanghai MicroPort MedBot climbed 3.7%. Chinese artificial intelligence startup Knowledge Atlas Technology soared 42.72%. - Reuters
