On the last trading day of the Dragon Year, a half-day session fluctuated but rose, extending gains for three consecutive days. The Hang Seng Index opened 139 points higher at 20,337 this morning (January 28), hitting a one-and-a-half-month high, but failed to sustain, turning down 32 points to a low of 20,165 before rebounding. It closed up 27 points or 0.1% at 20,225; the H-shares Index edged down 0.01% to 7,382; the Tech Index rose 0.8% to 4,723. Half-day turnover was 51.6 billion yuan.
DeepSeek Sparks Market Expectations for Domestic AI
The recent hot topic is undoubtedly DeepSeek. The AI assistant from DeepSeek, an open-source model company under mainland private equity giant High-Flyer, topped the free download charts on Apple's App Store in China and the US, surpassing ChatGPT in the US. Analysis indicates its performance is on par with OpenAI's o1 and even surpasses Meta's Llama, but at a very low cost. DeepSeek's breakout has sparked market expectations for domestic AI. DeepSeek breaks the dependence on high-end chips, overturning the US dominance in chips. With a sudden significant cost reduction, people feel there's no need to buy very high-end chips. The tide has reversed—from chasing US chips to China catching up rapidly.
Expected Baidu's ERNIE Bot to Step Up Further
Baidu (9888.HK) rose another 3.6% today, closing at HK$87.8, marking its third consecutive gain. Baidu will be a major beneficiary of DeepSeek's revolutionary breakthrough. Baidu's ERNIE Bot was previously constrained by high-end chips, with development results not ideal. Now, DeepSeek's breakthrough shows Baidu can develop low-cost, high-quality AI without relying on high-end chips. As the mainland pioneer of ChatGPT, ERNIE Bot is expected to step up further, driving Baidu's stock price to around HK$92.6.
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About the Author: Zhang Zhiwei studied economics at university and completed a finance course at Heriot-Watt University, UK. With years of market investment experience, he has in-depth research and unique insights into the stock market. He is currently a licensed representative of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) as a responsible officer (RO1&2) for securities and futures companies, and a trainer for continuous professional training (CPT) courses. He has taught various investment courses, broker internships, order system applications, securities company operations, and co-organized options seminars with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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