HSBC and mainland banks prop up Hang Seng Index, which holds firm and outperforms Asian stocks

The Hang Seng Index held firm yesterday thanks to financial stocks such as HSBC and mainland banks, with Hong Kong stocks once again outperforming Asian markets. Chinese memory chip maker ChangXin Memory Technologies announced a technological breakthrough, sending shares of South Korea's memory chip leaders sharply lower, while local AI concept hardware stocks fell in tandem, with CICT down more than 10 per cent. The Tech Index slipped 28 points, or 0.67 per cent, against the trend.