[ET Net News Agency, 23 June 2026] The market is waiting for the follow-up progress of the US-Iran negotiations, and the three major US stock indices moved individually overnight; the Dow closed higher, but large-tech stocks were under pressure, and both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower. Asia-Pacific stock markets generally trended lower, with Korea stocks plunging 5%, A-shares giving back gains, and Japan and Taiwan stocks softening. The HSI fluctuated in early trading, once rising dozens of points during the session, but external markets weakened, and the decline of the HSI expanded. The HSI closed at 23,500, down 268 points or 1.1%, with main board turnover of nearly 176.9 billion HKD. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index reported 7,819, down 95 points or 1.2%. The Hang Seng Tech Index reported 4,448, down 100 points or 2.2%.
"Jaseper Tsang: Market focus shifts to US monetary policy trends"
On the external side, Washington stated on Monday (22 Jun) that it would temporarily lift oil sanctions on Iran for 60 days, but US stocks trended softer, and yesterday the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed lower, dragged down by tech stocks such as Alphabet (US.GOOGL) and SpaceX (US.SPCX). Jaseper Tsang, Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional Commentators Limited, told ET Net News Agency that the current market focus has shifted from the Middle East situation to the direction of US monetary policy. He explained that although the current fallback of oil prices to below 80 USD helps ease inflation expectations, the market is currently more concerned about the monetary policy stance of the new Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh, especially whether a balance sheet reduction cycle will be initiated, as well as future interest rate trends; the market has now focused on Warsh's testimony at the congressional hearing on 14 Jul.
As the market is still feeling out the Federal Reserve's monetary policy stance, Tsang expressed that capital currently tends to adopt a wait-and-see attitude and has begun to gradually lock in profits in high-valuation sectors such as AI, with profit-taking pressure on the US tech sector beginning to increase. Amid the correction in US stocks, Tsang believes that Hong Kong stocks can hardly remain immune, and the HSI may continue to fluctuate downwards, with a chance to test the support level at the 23,000-point mark.
"E-commerce platform stocks focus on AI business monetization capability"
Syntun, a Mainland China online retail data analysis platform, yesterday announced the data for the 2026 "618" shopping festival. The cumulative e-commerce sales across the entire network, integrating comprehensive e-commerce, instant retail, and community group buying, amounted to RMB 934 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4%, slowing down significantly from about 15.2% last year. Earlier, e-commerce platforms were also summoned for regulatory talks by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation to crack down on issues related to "involution" and false advertising. Shares of e-commerce platforms such as Tencent (00700), JD.com (09618), and Alibaba (09988) have remained soft recently.
Tsang pointed out that a consumption slowdown is currently occurring in Mainland China, and the recently released consumption data for May was also lower than expected, making the lacklustre performance during the shopping festival within expectations. Even if it could bring short-term positive performance like a "flash in the pan" during the shopping festival, it would be difficult to reverse its weakness. Tsang continued that the e-commerce business of e-commerce platform stocks is no longer the focus of the market, and AI monetization capability is the key to attracting capital. He explained that although Tencent and Alibaba have their AI businesses, the current monetization capability has not yet been reflected in overall revenues; the market is closely observing whether various major platforms can gradually convert their AI models and related applications into stable and sustained commercial revenue streams.
Since it takes time for this type of stock to rely on AI business monetization, it is safer to deploy from a medium-to-long-term perspective. Among several e-commerce platform stocks, Tencent is safer in terms of deployment due to its larger moat in the gaming business, where it can still maintain double-digit gaming revenue growth even if the forward price-to-earnings ratio falls below about 14 times. If considering medium-to-long-term deployment, one can consider buying in tranches when the share price corrects to the HKD 400 level.
"Jaseper Tsang: Market focus shifts to US monetary policy trends"
On the external side, Washington stated on Monday (22 Jun) that it would temporarily lift oil sanctions on Iran for 60 days, but US stocks trended softer, and yesterday the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed lower, dragged down by tech stocks such as Alphabet (US.GOOGL) and SpaceX (US.SPCX). Jaseper Tsang, Vice-Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Financial Analysts and Professional Commentators Limited, told ET Net News Agency that the current market focus has shifted from the Middle East situation to the direction of US monetary policy. He explained that although the current fallback of oil prices to below 80 USD helps ease inflation expectations, the market is currently more concerned about the monetary policy stance of the new Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh, especially whether a balance sheet reduction cycle will be initiated, as well as future interest rate trends; the market has now focused on Warsh's testimony at the congressional hearing on 14 Jul.
As the market is still feeling out the Federal Reserve's monetary policy stance, Tsang expressed that capital currently tends to adopt a wait-and-see attitude and has begun to gradually lock in profits in high-valuation sectors such as AI, with profit-taking pressure on the US tech sector beginning to increase. Amid the correction in US stocks, Tsang believes that Hong Kong stocks can hardly remain immune, and the HSI may continue to fluctuate downwards, with a chance to test the support level at the 23,000-point mark.
"E-commerce platform stocks focus on AI business monetization capability"
Syntun, a Mainland China online retail data analysis platform, yesterday announced the data for the 2026 "618" shopping festival. The cumulative e-commerce sales across the entire network, integrating comprehensive e-commerce, instant retail, and community group buying, amounted to RMB 934 billion, a year-on-year increase of 4%, slowing down significantly from about 15.2% last year. Earlier, e-commerce platforms were also summoned for regulatory talks by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation to crack down on issues related to "involution" and false advertising. Shares of e-commerce platforms such as Tencent (00700), JD.com (09618), and Alibaba (09988) have remained soft recently.
Tsang pointed out that a consumption slowdown is currently occurring in Mainland China, and the recently released consumption data for May was also lower than expected, making the lacklustre performance during the shopping festival within expectations. Even if it could bring short-term positive performance like a "flash in the pan" during the shopping festival, it would be difficult to reverse its weakness. Tsang continued that the e-commerce business of e-commerce platform stocks is no longer the focus of the market, and AI monetization capability is the key to attracting capital. He explained that although Tencent and Alibaba have their AI businesses, the current monetization capability has not yet been reflected in overall revenues; the market is closely observing whether various major platforms can gradually convert their AI models and related applications into stable and sustained commercial revenue streams.
Since it takes time for this type of stock to rely on AI business monetization, it is safer to deploy from a medium-to-long-term perspective. Among several e-commerce platform stocks, Tencent is safer in terms of deployment due to its larger moat in the gaming business, where it can still maintain double-digit gaming revenue growth even if the forward price-to-earnings ratio falls below about 14 times. If considering medium-to-long-term deployment, one can consider buying in tranches when the share price corrects to the HKD 400 level.
