As recorded by Bloomberg on June 18, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) has breached the 20% technical bear market threshold from its October 2025 peak, with the sell-off in Hong Kong tech stocks persisting. On June 23, Asian markets took another hit: according to Sina Finance, the Hang Seng Index closed down 1.82% at 23,336 points, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.96% to 7,759 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index briefly dropped 3.7% before closing 3.3% lower at 4,399 points, falling below the 4,400 mark. Major tech stocks suffered broad declines: Xiaomi fell 4.6%, JD.com and Tencent dropped over 4%, and Alibaba slid 3.8% to below 100 Hong Kong dollars, all hitting new recent lows. Large model concept stocks were hit particularly hard: Zhipu AI tumbled nearly 10%, its market value again falling below one trillion Hong Kong dollars, and MiniMax-W dropped over 16%. AI hardware stocks in storage, PCB, and semiconductor sectors faced concentrated selling, with CSOP Kospi 2x Leveraged Daily and Mirae Asset TIGER Samsung Securities 2x Leveraged ETFs down over 24% and 23% respectively.
The sell-off was triggered by a circuit breaker in the Korean stock market: the KOSPI posted its biggest one-day drop since March 4, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix taking heavy losses. Bearish sentiment quickly spread to the Hong Kong-listed AI supply chain. According to China Galaxy Securities, the fundamental inflection point for Hong Kong’s stock market was confirmed in the second half of 2026, with earnings recovery driven mainly by the AI supply chain, upstream resources, and certain high-growth sectors. However, a full rebound in traditional consumption and the property sector still awaits clearer macroeconomic signals. Chinese bank stocks were broadly active on June 23, while pharmaceutical stocks attracted institutional interest against the trend, becoming one of the few safe havens of the day.