Hang Seng Falls 0.9%, Shanghai Gains 0.2% in Mixed Asian Trading

Key Facts

Asian stocks were mixed on Friday, November 13, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng falling 0.9% to 23,786.48 points while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% to 3,663.71 points, according to the Associated Press. The moves came as investors assessed the implications of Jensen Huang’s departure as Nvidia chief executive, the agency said. Chinese markets moved in different directions during the session: Hong Kong fell, while Shanghai posted modest gains. The agency described Asian trading as mixed. In South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.5% to 5,317.05 points.

Losses in South Korea extended to semiconductor stocks, with SK Hynix down 2% and Samsung Electronics falling 0.7% during the November 13 session, according to the Associated Press. In contrast, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.2% in the same session, while the Hang Seng lost 0.9%. On Wall Street, all three major U.S. indexes fell in Thursday’s session, November 12, according to the agency’s report. The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4%. The moves show declines in indexes and shares across different markets over the two sessions, while Chinese markets remained mixed on Friday.

Alibaba and Tencent shares fell in Thursday’s session, November 12, after a report said the U.S. Commerce Department was preparing rules to prevent Chinese AI companies from remotely accessing advanced chips through data centers outside China, according to Investing.com. Alibaba shares listed in Hong Kong fell 5% to 95.6 Hong Kong dollars at 05:08 GMT, while Tencent shares declined 1.5% to 403.6 Hong Kong dollars at the same time. Those moves were in Thursday’s session, while the Hang Seng and Shanghai posted mixed performances on Friday. Reuters reported that Chinese AI companies are trying to rent computing capacity powered by Nvidia chips at data centers outside China. A major Chinese cloud computing provider also discussed reserving Nvidia chip capacity overseas, and companies contacted data center operators to reserve capacity, the report said.

Companies’ search for computing capacity outside China comes amid U.S. efforts to regulate access to restricted technology through cloud services. Reuters reported that the Remote Access Security Act would give the U.S. Commerce Department authority to regulate this type of access and that the House passed it in January by 369 votes to 22, with Senate action pending. The report also said the prospect of tighter enforcement boosted demand for restricted Nvidia chips in China’s gray market and prompted traders and brokers to stockpile them. In an August filing, Nvidia said its revenue from chip sales to Chinese data centers was nearly zero and that it did not expect that to change in the third quarter. Other proposals under consideration in Congress include expanding review of changes to export rules and tracking the locations of advanced AI chips, Reuters reported.

Attention turns after Friday’s trading to Chinese economic activity data scheduled for November 16. The National Bureau of Statistics’ official calendar lists the release of “National Economic Performance” data that day, alongside retail sales and industrial production data. The release date allows these indicators to be followed on the same day, according to the official calendar. The data follow a session in which the Hong Kong and Shanghai indexes moved in different directions. The November 16 release remains the next official milestone listed on the calendar.