This morning (9th), the HSI opened 155 pts higher. With the upswing sharpening in the afternoon session, the index closed near the day's peak at 24,211, up 425 pts or 1.79%. Main board turnover reached HKD209.199 billion. The HSCEI closed at 8,147, up 137.29 pts or 1.71%. The HSTECH closed at 4,197, up 124 pts or 3.06%.

Techs were the key drivers of the rally. TENCENT (00700.HK) closed up 3.26%; MEITUAN-W (03690.HK) spiked 3.03%; NTES (09999.HK) swelled 3.75%; BABA-W (09988.HK) rallied 2.59% after Jefferies raised its TP to HKD186; BIDU-W (09888.HK) climbed 1.04%; and KUAISHOU-W (01024.HK) advanced 5.47%.

Automakers outshone, with XIAOMI-W (01810.HK) becoming the best-performing blue chip of the day as its share price surged 9.72%. Orders locked in for SkyNomad exceeded 70,000 units within 30 days of launch. LI AUTO-W (02015.HK), BYD COMPANY (01211.HK) and GEELY AUTO (00175.HK) all mounted more than 3%. Battery giant CATL (03750.HK) closed up 3.06% after its total battery patent holdings over the past decade ranked first globally, marking the first time a Chinese company topped the list.

Among blue chips, HSBC HOLDINGS (00005.HK) rebounded 1.82%; AIA (01299.HK) soared 2.89%; LENOVO GROUP (00992.HK) recovered 1.61%; while CHINA LIFE (02628.HK) and CSPC PHARMA (01093.HK) each dived more than 2%. Goldman Sachs expected Macau's gaming EBITDA to rebound 5% QoQ in 3Q26 and favored SANDS CHINA LTD (01928.HK) and GALAXY ENT (00027.HK) to Outperform. The two stocks rallied 3.99% and 4.83% respectively. Consumers and caterers also attracted buying interest, with MENGNIU DAIRY (02319.HK), HAIDILAO (06862.HK) and LI NING (02331.HK) all up more than 3%.
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Australian AI data center operator Firmus, backed by NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), announced that it has withdrawn its Australia listing plan due to market volatility.

Firmus plans to raise USD2-3 billion through private financing and is in talks with existing investors, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

Sources added that Firmus will explore the possibility of listing in the US in the long run.
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Meta Platforms, Inc. (META.US) has banned ByteDance, the former controlling shareholder of TikTok, from placing advertisements and paid promotional messages on its platforms. The restrictions will take effect in the US, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam, and will also apply to third-party advertisers in the above countries directing traffic to TikTok and other ByteDance products.

Meta spokesperson Chris Sgro said in a statement that the company sees no need to carry advertisements from competitors whose objective is to divert users away from Meta's applications. He added that refusing to provide promotional services to competitors is a normal business practice across industries, and the company will continue to compete through product quality and user experience.
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AASTOCKS Financial News
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Australian AI data center operator Firmus, backed by NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US), said it has withdrawn its planned large-scale IPO owing to market volatility and market conditions. In an emailed statement to CNBC, the company said its board believed the proposed offering terms did not adequately reflect its business strength and long-term growth prospects.

Firmus said that the board therefore believes that proceeding with the offering is not in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. The company added that it will seek private market funding and consider other public and private market alternatives.

Firmus had reportedly planned to raise USD5 billion in the IPO at a price of AUD11 per share, which would have become Australia's second-largest IPO on record. The IPO would have valued the company at approximately USD30.6 billion.
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Former ByteDance intern Tian Keyu, who was dismissed for serious disciplinary violations, founded an AI startup focused on World Models, Bloomberg reported. The startup already secured backing from prominent investment institutions including 5Y Capital and IDG Capital, and is preparing to enter the World Models field being explored by AI researchers such as Fei-Fei Li and Yann LeCun.

Although the company remains at an early stage, has yet to determine a name and has not launched any products, it has already completed financing of nearly USD30 million, with a post-money valuation reaching USD200 million.

Investors include 5Y Capital and IDG Capital, both of which previously invested in Moonshot AI. Both institutions confirmed the investment to Bloomberg.

World Models have become a new hot investment theme. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD.US) announced last month that it would acquire World Labs, the World Models company founded by Fei-Fei Li, for billions of USD.

In addition, a new AI model named Jev, with costs lower than traditional LLMs, also attracted investor interest, with the potential financing valuation of its developer exceeding USD10 billion.
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Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) founder Jeff Bezos said private space company Blue Origin may seek an IPO in the coming years after raising USD10 billion from external investors for the first time.

Blue Origin is a major competitor to Elon Musk's SpaceX (SPCX.US). Bezos said he has personally invested USD28 billion in Blue Origin since founding the company in 2000.

The Wall Street Journal had reported in September this year that Blue Origin's latest funding round valued the company at USD140 billion.
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AASTOCKS Financial News
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Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA), said global vehicle sales numbered 63.43 million units in 8M26, while global new energy passenger vehicle (NEV-PV) sales reached 15.7 million units, up 15% YoY.

Among them, NEV sales in August numbered 2.23 million units, up 16% YoY, with growth returning to historically normal levels. The penetration rate of NEVs reached 24.5% in 8M26, of which BEVs accounted for 17.3%, and PHEVs accounted for 7.5%. Hybrid vehicles achieved an outstanding 8% share.

In light of factors including high tariffs and price increases following the cancellation of NEV subsidies, US NEV sales in August sank 44% YoY to 110,000 units. US NEV sales in 8M26 totaled 820,000 units, down 31% YoY. Europe's NEV passenger vehicle sales reached 3.86 million units in 2025, representing a YoY hike of 960,000 units, or 33%. Preliminary statistics showed that Europe's NEV-PV sales in August grew 33% YoY to 320,000 units, while sales in 8M26 added 34% YoY to 3.12 million units.
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AASTOCKS Financial News
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US President Donald Trump will award medals to multiple technology industry executives at a science summit on Thursday (8th) US time. CNBC confirmed the news.

The White House said Elon Musk, who leads SpaceX (SPCX.US) and Tesla (TSLA.US), will receive the National Medal of Science. Other award recipients include Google co-founder Sergey Brin, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang, and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD.US) CEO Lisa Su. Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL.US) founder Michael Dell and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) CEO Satya Nadella will receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

The event is named "Science: A New Golden Age Summit". Fox News first reported the news.
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Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) said its new laptops equipped with NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) AI chips will start at USD2,599, aiming to bring more AI functions to consumer devices.

Pavan Davuluri, Executive Vice President of Windows and Devices at Microsoft, said at a company event in San Francisco on Wednesday (7th) that the Surface Laptop Ultra is now available for pre-order and will begin shipping on October 16. The computer features a magnetic USB-C connector similar to the MagSafe charging connector of Apple Inc. (AAPL.US).
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Samsung Electronics said robust demand for AI chips is expected to drive 3Q operating profit to surge nearly 8x YoY to KRW107.4 trillion (approximately USD80.17 billion), slightly above market expectations of KRW106.1 trillion. It also marks the first time quarterly operating profit has exceeded KRW100 trillion.

Samsung Electronics shares opened higher but later turned lower this morning (8th), and last dropped 0.9% at KRW266,250.
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