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Shanghai has become the latest mainland Chinese city to lower the minimum down payment requirement for loans on commercial-use properties – including shops and business apartments – from 50 per cent to at least 30 per cent. Analysts said the move could help reduce excess inventory in the struggling commercial real estate market, though stronger measures might still be needed. “There is still a meaningful gap between the minimum down payment ratio for residential properties and that for mixed-use......

SmartMore, the first company backed by the Hong Kong government's investment fund, has applied for a listing, underscoring the city's crowded pipeline of technology initial public offerings (IPOs). The unicorn, founded in 2019 and specialising in industrial artificial intelligence, submitted its application on Monday night, with Morgan Stanley, China International Capital Corporation and Deutsche Bank as joint sponsors. SmartMore provides intelligent manufacturing and digital innovation through......

A healthy cash flow is crucial for the success of businesses around the world, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In addition to problems such as late payments by customers, rising costs and supply shortages, other issues such as expensive bank fees and delays in global remittance payments can cut into the profit margins of SMEs. However, Visa Direct, one of the world's largest digital payment networks, which provides international money transfer services across Visa's......

Hong Kong stocks rose for a second day on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street's gains, as oil prices steadied after a sharp overnight decline, easing concerns over inflation and geopolitical tensions. The Hang Seng Index added 0.4 per cent to 25,938.43 at the market open, extending Monday's 1.5 per cent advance. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.5 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index added 0.3 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index was little changed. E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding......

An Ant Group subsidiary has fulfilled all the necessary requirements for acquiring Bright Smart Securities & Commodities Group, Hong Kong's largest retail stock brokerage, after completing reporting procedures with China's regulatory authorities, the two companies announced in a joint off-trading-hours filing on Monday. Wealthiness and Prosperity Holding, which is ultimately controlled by Ant Group, had completed the reporting procedures with the Chinese authorities required for high-value......

South Korea and Japan have led declines in global stock markets amid the oil shock, underscoring how supply disruptions in the Middle East are weighing on growth in economies heavily reliant on fuel imports. The Kospi index in Seoul has slumped 12 per cent since the US-Israel war with Iran broke out on February 28, while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 has slid nearly 9 per cent. South Korea last week moved to cap oil price increases to limit inflation, while rising crude costs added to price pressures in......

Hong Kong is poised to launch the world's first open-source human-AI agent collaboration network this week, along with a series of everyday artificial intelligence products to assist citizens with activities such as applying for schools and analysing horse racing. The Hong Kong Generative AI Research and Development Centre (HKGAI) said it would soon offer on an open-source basis a human-AI agent collaboration network named “ClawNet”, designed to ensure AI agents “only do things that are......

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] Young job seekers in Hong Kong will gain access to more than 2,000 positions in technology fields when the Cyberport Career Fair 2026 takes place on March 20 and 21. The event continues to serve as one of Hong Kong's largest platforms connecting young people with tech-related careers. Now in its 12th edition, the expo brings together companies from 21 sectors, ranging from artificial intelligence and fintech to data......

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has become a sponsor of OpenClaw after public complaints from the creator of the popular open-source artificial intelligence agent. Tencent and its cloud computing unit officially became sponsors of OpenClaw on Monday, as featured on the project's GitHub page alongside OpenAI and Chinese AI giant Baidu. The GitHub page has a section that lists the project's sponsors. Earlier on Sunday, an account belonging to Tencent Cloud Lighthouse – the tech giant's team......

China's industrial robot production accelerated in the first two months of the year, according to government data, amid Beijing's policy support and industry efforts to promote wider adoption. China produced 143,608 industrial robots in January and February, an increase of 31 per cent from the same period last year, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The growth outpaced the 27 per cent increase in the same period last year, when production totalled 91,088......

Alibaba Group Holding has reshuffled its artificial intelligence operations, creating a new top level business group and placing CEO Eddie Wu Yongming in charge as the AI and e-commerce powerhouse accelerates its push into the emerging token economy. The company said on Monday it had established the Alibaba Token Hub (ATH) Business Group, which brings all its core AI teams and products together under one umbrella. This includes Tongyi Laboratory – the developer of Alibaba's Qwen series of......

Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) maker Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology's exports jumped nearly 400 per cent last year, thanks to its partnership with European giant Stellantis, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday. The Hangzhou-based carmaker said it exported 67,052 units in 2025, the most among emerging Chinese EV makers. Leapmotor exported 13,726 units in 2024. The surge in exports was largely attributed to Leapmotor's joint venture with Stellantis formed in May 2024,......

An undercover investigation by state-run China Central Television (CCTV) has cast a harsh light on a controversial practice in a nascent industry: the “poisoning” of artificial intelligence models with fabricated information. The report showed how techniques of generative engine optimisation (GEO) – the AI version of search engine optimisation (SEO) – could be used to manipulate AI chatbots, provoking widespread public concern and debate as both industry insiders and observers anticipated......

Luxury residential property on Hong Kong's Peak Road owned by businessman Chan King-wai has been put up for sale by public tender, several years after he acquired it from companies linked to CK group. Marketing agent JLL said on Monday that the adjoining sites at 86, 88 and 90 Peak Road are being offered for joint sale by tender. The residential lots have a combined area of about 28,620 sq ft. The site could attract bids of about HK$70,000 (US$8,939) to HK$100,000 per square foot, said Joseph......

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo on Monday said it will increase handset prices, citing surging semiconductor and memory costs, joining peers such as Oppo and Honor. Vivo, along with its sub-brand iQOO, will adjust prices from Wednesday, though the scale has not yet been disclosed. The move came in response to the “continued sharp rise in global semiconductor and memory costs”, the company said. Last week, Oppo said it would adjust prices, with the new pricing taking effect on Monday. “We......

Mainland China's first-tier new home prices were unchanged month on month in February, ending a nine-month decline, while the year-on-year decline continued to widen from tier one to tier three cities, and analysts said it would be important to watch whether the month-on-month stabilisation can be sustained. New home prices in first-tier cities were flat in February from January – Beijing and Shanghai each rose 0.2 per cent, Guangzhou was unchanged and Shenzhen slipped 0.3 per cent, according to......

China is counting on artificial intelligence (AI) to help the 450 million people living in rural areas left behind by the nation's economic boom. Farmers are already benefiting from the technology, using AI offerings such as DeepSeek or ByteDance's Doubao for help with issues like pig rearing, pest control and government subsidies. The State Council's “No 1 document” of 2026, extended a push for the “digital upgrading” of farming, with an emphasis on the greater integration of AI, drones, robots......

More than 10 loss-making biotechnology companies have filed for Hong Kong stock exchange listings this year, bringing cutting-edge drugs and artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery platforms to market, as the city's bourse presses ahead with reforms aimed at supporting the real economy. The latest applications came as healthcare and biotechnology equity capital market activity – stock sales by companies and their shareholders – in Hong Kong reached US$15.6 billion last year, the second......

US fashion brand Guess has told customers it will close all its stores in mainland China by the end of March, pending a new business model at a time when a growing number of international fashion retailers retreat from the market amid what analysts believe are issues including weak localisation and slow decision-making. Other foreign brands that have withdrawn entirely from mainland China in recent years include US label Old Navy, UK brand Topshop, and several labels owned by Spanish fashion......

Hong Kong stocks fell on Monday as tensions between the US and Iran showed no sign of easing quickly, keeping investors cautious about potential disruptions to global energy supplies and regional stability. The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1 per cent to 25,436.27 at the market open, extending a 1 per cent loss recorded from Friday. The Hang Seng Tech Index gained 0.2 per cent. On the mainland, both the CSI 300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index were little changed. Gold miner Zijin Mining......