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Almost 80 per cent of the Chinese companies operating in the European Union plan to expand their investment there, even though most complain about policy uncertainty, according to a report published on Tuesday by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU (CCCEU) and the China Economic Information Service. The result stands in sharp contrast to similar reports published by the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) – despite companies from both sides complaining about obstacles such as......

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart reported strong annual growth in revenue and net profit for 2025, but not enough to alleviate investor fears that the company remains too reliant on the Labubu phenomenon. Annual revenue jumped 184.7 per cent from a year earlier to 37.12 billion yuan (US$5.4 billion), while net profit surged 284.5 per cent to 13.08 billion yuan, the company said on Wednesday. However, its Hong Kong-listed shares plunged 22.5 per cent to HK$168.30 on Wednesday, marking the biggest drop......

Shenzhen – southern China's technology powerhouse – has launched an ambitious three-year action plan to build itself into a hub for intelligent computing clusters by advancing key areas such as semiconductors, storage and AI servers. The city aimed to see a “leapfrog” increase in the production capacity and shipment volume of the entire AI server supply chain by 2028, according to the plan published Monday by Shenzhen's industry and information technology bureau. The blueprint is geared to......

Global stock buy-backs rose to a record US$1.46 trillion yuan in 2025, as listed companies stepped up efforts to return cash to public shareholders amid a rally in equities, according to US asset-management firm Capital Group. Repurchases by the world's largest publicly traded companies tracked by the money manager increased 8.4 per cent year on year, representing a net increase of US$113 billion, Capital Group said in a report released on Wednesday. The US led global buy-backs, accounting for......

The disruption to shipping traffic along the Strait of Hormuz is starting to bite in China, where some manufacturers are reducing production due to soaring energy, raw material and freight costs. Zhao, who runs a bicycle factory in Guangzhou serving clients in the United States, Middle East and Europe, has already put most export business on hold. “We also cancelled all orders from Iran,” he said. “The cost of aluminium, a key raw material for bicycle production, has risen by 30 per......

China's luxury hotel sector has unlocked new avenues for business growth, fuelled by a boom in inbound tourism and a growing number of foreign business travellers and holidaymakers who favour high-end accommodation. International tourists generally spend more than domestic ones, except for wealthy Chinese travellers. Most visa-free visitors to China are from developed countries with much higher living costs. Even spending at their usual levels, they would generate considerable revenue for......

Turkey's largest private bank plans to set up a Hong Kong office, according to sources familiar with the matter, in a move that underscores the city's role as a gateway for lenders seeking to connect China and Asian markets with the Middle East. Turkiye Is Bankasi's board approved the Hong Kong expansion plan two months ago and the lender was awaiting clearance from Turkish authorities before formally approaching the Hong Kong Monetary Authority for a banking licence, the sources said. If......

Hong Kong stocks extended their rebound on Wednesday on signs that a diplomatic solution to Middle East tensions was making progress. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.9 per cent to 25,274.40 as of 9.40am local time. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 1.4 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index climbed 0.9 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.7 per cent. Bottled water maker Nongfu Spring rallied 8 per cent to HK$45.78 and electric vehicle maker Li Auto gained 4.5 per cent to HK$70.95.......

Major Chinese consumer stocks listed in Hong Kong rose sharply following strong full-year earnings, though analysts said the results did not point to a broad recovery in the consumer market but rather highlighted structural divergence and new growth drivers in mainland China consumption. Bubble tea chain Mixue Group posted better-than-expected results for 2025, with sales reaching 33.56 billion yuan (US$4.87 billion), up 35.2 per cent year on year, while net profit rose 32.7 per cent to 5.88......

Chinese self-driving technology developers continue to expand outside the mainland as WeRide seeks to launch robotaxi services this year in Hong Kong and Singapore, according to an executive. WeRide's planned entry into Hong Kong was set to cover both robotaxis and robobuses, said senior director of public relations and marketing Maeve Zhang in a media briefing on Tuesday, without disclosing the operation areas or a launch date. Meanwhile, the Guangzhou-based company said it planned to launch......

Hong Kong is a stable base for global wealth as rising geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties prompt wealthy families to rethink where they base their assets, according to Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po. “We are living in a world marked by uncertainty and conflicts,” Chan said at the gala dinner of the Wealth for Good in Hong Kong Summit on Tuesday evening. “The rules-based international order is under strain. Some even say it has been ruptured.” Facing such a situation, investors......

A US move to ban imports of new foreign-made consumer routers aims to pressure Chinese manufacturers to “onshore” parts of their production chain, although that will be a challenge given limited US manufacturing capacity, according to analysts. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said on Monday that it had updated its Covered List to include consumer-grade routers produced in foreign countries, citing concerns that the devices could “pose unacceptable risks to the national security of......

Global trade flows are facing severe disruption amid the US-Israel war on Iran and unpredictable tariff policies. But logistics giant DHL still expects its revenues to soar in the coming years thanks in large part to Chinese companies' rising global ambitions. The resilience of China's outbound trade is a major reason DHL has maintained such an ambitious growth target even amid the Middle East crisis and constantly changing trade barriers, according to Oscar de Bok, CEO of the firm's global......

Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone and electric vehicle (EV) maker, reported that fourth-quarter net profit dropped 27 per cent from a year earlier, as weaker sales cut into margins. Profit fell to 6.5 billion yuan (US$943 million), a 47 per cent plunge from the previous quarter and the lowest quarterly number in a year. It was also the first quarter-on-quarter decline since the second quarter of 2024. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 7.3 per cent from a year earlier and 3 per cent compared with the......

Chinese petrol prices rose the most since 2000, even after unprecedented government intervention, as the war in Iran upends global oil markets. Petrol went up by 1,160 yuan (US$169) per tonne at the end of Monday and diesel prices rose by 1,115 yuan, according to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The increases would have been about twice as high had the usual pricing rules been followed, it said. The roughly 11 per cent increases, the fifth this year, came after Iran closed......

In recent years, Hong Kong has introduced a wealth of measures to attract well-educated, skilled professionals from around the world to develop their careers in the city. Between late 2022 and the end of last month, the city welcomed more than 270,000 talented professionals – a number of whom also brought along their families as they began a new chapter in their lives. These efforts continue to play a major part in driving Hong Kong's transition to a new economic model, which emphasises the......

Alibaba Group Holding's research arm Damo Academy has unveiled a chip designed to fuel artificial intelligence agents, as the tech giant bets on open-source RISC-V architecture to ride the wave of agentic AI. XuanTie C950, the latest flagship in Alibaba's XuanTie RISC-V series, was introduced at the company's annual ecosystem conference in Shanghai on Tuesday. Designed for high-performance tasks in cloud computing and AI computing, the C950 is a “CPU core” – the fundamental architecture for a......

US biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences agreed to buy Ouro Medicines, which is developing an antibody-based medicine for autoimmune diseases licensed from China's Keymed Biosciences, in a deal worth up to US$2.18 billion. Gilead Sciences is among a group of global drug makers facing patent expirations and turning to mergers, acquisitions and licensing deals to refill their drug pipelines. Under the agreement, Gilead Sciences would pay shareholders of US-based Ouro Medicines US$1.675 billion......

Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC), the government's investment arm, has teamed up with venture capital firm Gobi Partners and the University of Hong Kong (HKU) to launch a fund on Tuesday to invest in technology start-ups spun off from the university's research breakthroughs, according to an HKIC statement. Gobi-HKU Fund I made two investments at its launch: Manifold Tech, which develops spatial intelligence for robotics, and AilsynBio, which focuses on artificial intelligence-driven drug......

The electronic platform of the Mandatory Provident Fund (eMPF) will cut administration fees for 378 investment funds by more than 21 per cent from April 1, the pension regulator said on Tuesday, adding that this will achieve its cost-saving target of HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) in less than 10 years. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po approved the reduction, which would lower administration costs from 0.37 per cent to 0.29 per cent of assets under management, representing a 21.6 per cent fee......