[ET Net News Agency, 25 March 2026] US President Trump hinted Iran brought out a gift
related to the Strait of Hormuz; negotiations have already reached consensus on parts of a
potential agreement. Separately, it's reported the US proposed a fifteen-point plan to end
the conflict, with media saying Washington seeks a one-month ceasefire to advance talks.
Iranian warfare seems to have signs of truce; Japan and Korea stocks in early session both
rose 3%. Hong Kong stocks at the open immediately took back the bull-bear line (about
25,110). Intra-day, regional markets' collective gains narrowed; Hong Kong tech sector
fell notably, dragging the HSI to rise at midday only 9 points or less than 0.1%, midday
at 25,073, main board turnover near 151.3 billion. HSCEI was at 8,483, down 16 points or
0.2%. HSTECH was at 4,807, down 23 points or 0.5%.

"Ng Lai Yin: HSI 25,000 not necessarily firm, but 24,000 has support; not suitable
short-term trading, can eye medium-to-long-term"

Hong Kong stocks followed Asia-Pacific markets to do well, at most once rose over 300
points, but after the HSI rose above the 250-day line there was selling pressure. Ng Lai
Yin, a securities strategist at Everbright Securities, told ET Net News Agency that the
Rashomon of US-Iran negotiations reflects that war news still is full of uncertainty. This
morning the HSI first rose then returned, proving the market toward the war's wind
direction maintains cautious wait-and-see. Although the market re-ascended certain key
levels, he still recommends investors during volatile market period go in light gear, in
positioning emphasize flexible advance-retreat elasticity.
HSI in the early session once re-ascended above the 250-day line, but Ng stated this
morning Hong Kong market's momentum is not particularly strong; he estimates whether
within the day it can thereby hold the 250-day line still cannot be known, therefore he
suggests short-term investors should not be overly aggressive in deployment. However, he
still thinks the HSI above 24,000 still has stronger support. Even if 25,000 may not be
able to stand firm in the short term, from a medium-to-long-term angle, between 24,000 and
25,000 is a suitable level to build positions in quality medium-to-long-term stocks. As
for position deployment, he said during earnings season overall tech stocks are hard to
deliver bright performance. Comparatively, heavyweight results-late-reporting state banks
and other China financials, although performance likewise may not be bright, are
relatively more stable than the former. In today's volatile market conditions, stability
is much better than big swings, so it's fine to use Chinese banks as a choice to steady
the portfolio.

"Autos and AI development both hard to offset chip price rises; expect Xiaomi likely to
test the HKD 30 mark"

Xiaomi (01810) announced last year's Q4 results: adjusted net profit fell 23.7%
year-on-year to RMB 6.349 billion, slightly beating expectations. But President Lu Weibing
at the press conference frankly said memory chip prices' rise speed and magnitude both
exceeded his own expectations, dragging the share down over 3%. In fact, since last
quarter Xiaomi's stock price has been continuously dragged by memory price increases. Ng
said upstream price hikes show no improvement progress, even leading to obvious
deterioration in results, it is hard to conclude Xiaomi's worst period has passed. He
estimates the impact will at least persist through most of this year; therefore, if the
situation does not improve, Xiaomi's stock will find it difficult to have much rebound
momentum. Resistance at HKD 37 remains large; below, it may even further test the HKD 30
threshold.
Xiaomi recently high-profile released an AI large model; Lei Jun stated Xiaomi's AI
actual progress may be much faster than everyone sees. Ng admitted that in the short term
Xiaomi's R&D spending on AI remains large, hard to bring scale profit performance for the
company. Given Xiaomi still relies on smartphones as the main revenue and profit driver,
AI development can provide speculation fodder for the stock price, but in practice it
still cannot offset rising handset costs. If it cannot produce synergies with the
smartphone business, the short-term contribution to earnings is not big.
As for autos, Ng agrees the auto business has grown into an important part of revenue
share. However, after multiple incidents, Xiaomi Auto's halo has faded; yet indeed monthly
deliveries maintain a decent level. Investors can watch whether in the coming year
deliveries can maintain higher growth, only then will it bring support to the stock price.