Shares in fast-fashion giant Shein plunged more than 11 percent in Hong Kong on Tuesday after releasing disappointing financial results. The company, which faces growing competition from low-cost e-commerce companies such as Temu and AliExpress, said that revenue grew just one percent on-year in the first six months of the year, while its operating profit halved. By around lunch on Tuesday, Shein's share price had pared some of the losses but was still down 10.9 percent at HK$31.44. Monday's results were Shein's first since its high-profile initial public offering this month, which put the company's valuation at around US$26.3 billion – well short of the nearly US$100 billion during private fundraising rounds in 2022. Net revenue from Europe fell 13.9 percent to nearly US$3.8 billion for the second quarter, Shein reported. The decrease "reflects a decline in sales volume as we raised prices and lowered online advertising spending" in anticipation of the removal of the customs duty exemption, the company said. Another key market, the United States, saw revenue drop six percent in April-June, reflecting the impact of tariffs. Since its first day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in September, Shein's share price has fallen more than 35 percent. (AFP) Edited by Aaron Tam

Chinese automation equipment maker RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology fell up to 9.8 percent in its Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday, after raising HK$5.18 billion in its share sale. The stock dropped to as low as HK$393.20, compared with its offer price of HK$436, after opening at HK$419.60. It was last down 8.5 percent at HK$398.80. The broader market was also weaker, with the Hang Seng Index falling 0.6 percent at one stage and the tech index down 1.2 percent. RoboTechnik was one of four companies to start trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday, in a test of investor appetite for new share offerings amid a revival in the city's IPO ⁠market. Hong Kong IPOs, including secondary listings, have raised US$46.54 billion so far this ⁠year, a 94.3 percent jump from a ⁠year earlier, LSEG data showed. Printed circuit board maker Shenzhen Kinwong Electronic opened seven percent lower at HK$65, versus its HK$69.88 offer price, after raising HK$5.1 billion. The stock was last up ⁠9.5 percent at HK$76.55. Specialty chemicals and semiconductor materials maker Red Avenue New Materials Group opened 9.1 percent lower at HK$40 versus its HK$44 offer price, after raising about HK$3 billion. Robotics technology company Direct Drive Tech opened 4.1 percent higher at HK$22.48, versus its HK$21.60 offer price, after raising HK$1.08 billion. "I don’t think the IPO market has ⁠the same punch as before," said Dickie Wong, executive director of research at uSmart Securities. "Because of US-China tension in AI and chips sector and fears that AI is getting frothy, names in AI, robotics and PCB are no longer being chased the way they were. "People are picking more carefully now. Theme alone is not enough. Valuation and recent momentum matter more. Subscription demand and first-day trading have both cooled a lot." RoboTechnik makes equipment for photovoltaic cell manufacturing and assembly, and testing systems for silicon photonics devices used in optical interconnects for data centres and artificial intelligence infrastructure. It ⁠sold 11.88 million Hong Kong shares in the base offering. Cornerstone investors, including Temasek, Sunpeak Asset and IvyRock, agreed to buy about US$232.4 million of shares, the prospectus showed. The company plans to use listing proceeds for research and development, expanding production capacity and speeding up deliveries, global sales and service operations, as well as for potential acquisitions and working capital. RoboTechnik reported first-half 2026 net profit of 6.3 million yuan, from a 12.2 million yuan loss a year earlier. Revenue rose 145.1 percent to 608.1 million yuan, ⁠driven mainly by silicon photonics assembly and testing equipment. (Reuters) Edited by Tony Sabine

Oil prices and bond yields were higher in an uncomfortable combination for Asian equities on Tuesday, as investors braced for an interest rate hike in Australia and an era where short term borrowing costs settle at ⁠their highest for years. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index opened up six points, or 0.02 percent, at 24,648 but plunged into the red soon after and was 131 points down at one stage in early trading. The tech index was down nine points, or 0.21 percent, at 4,286 while the China enterprises index was up 10 points, or 0.13 percent, at 8,227. On the mainland the Shanghai Composite Index opened down seven points, or 0.2 percent, at 3,816. The Shenzhen Component Index slid 19 points, or 0.15 percent, to 12,839 while the ChiNext Index inched down three points, or 0.11 percent, to 3,136. The mixed openings came as the benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield spiked to a 19-year high above 5.27 percent overnight for a rise of nearly 50 basis points through September. Yields rise when bond prices fall and the monthly selloff is the heaviest for two years. The US two-year yield has moved even further, shooting up more than 57 bps this month to the threshold of five percent, as traders figure that US growth and inflation will drive three more Federal Reserve rate hikes by the middle of next year. Sovereign yields are an anchor for global markets, a reference price for investing in riskier stocks and a benchmark for ⁠mortgages and corporate borrowing. Higher rates mean pressure on government, corporate and household budgets. Overnight only ⁠a massive US$150 billion boost to ⁠a buyback plan by chipmaker Nvidia, which lifted the stock price, held the rates-senstive Nasdaq to a fall of 0.9 percent. In Asia, bond markets in Japan, South Korea and Australia traded under pressure and most ⁠regional equity markets slipped. "The way to look at expected returns and overall bond yields going forward [is] we're coming to a new environment," said Angus Hui, head of fixed income at Fullerton Fund Management in Singapore. "Interest expenses are increasing as a part of the government budget in a lot of developed markets," he said, which means stretching sovereign finances and perhaps ⁠limiting a recovery for bonds should the global economy slow down. "Hence we think bond yields are unlikely to go back to the very good old days when bond yields were very, very low," he said. No sign of a breakthrough in Middle East left Brent crude futures at US$106.60 a barrel and climbing. Fragile sentiment in China's technology sector, where stocks were hit on Monday by US plans to ban Chinese components from data centres, left the blue chip CSI300 index pinned to a one-year low. The prospectus for US AI giant Anthropic illustrates the scale of the gamble on AI, with the company targeting a US$2 trillion valuation, but planning to spend US$518 billion ⁠on computing and infrastructure to build its transformative vision. Foreign exchange markets were broadly steady through the Asia morning on Tuesday, leaving the US dollar headed for a monthly gain. The yen rose on Monday when Japan's top currency diplomat said traders ought to heed the signal from Tokyo and Washington's united concern last week at yen weakness. It hovered at 157.31 per dollar, while the euro held at US$1.1367. The Australian dollar was steady at US$0.7012, with a Reserve Bank of Australia rate hike fully priced, along with another hike by February. "We question whether the ⁠governor can be sufficiently hawkish to frank the markets current mindset, especially if the decision is not unanimous," said Damien McColough and Uma Choudhury, rates strategists at Westpac, in a note. In Tokyo, the Nikkei opened lower by 319 points, or 0.49 percent, at 65,557, with its losses widening to 696 points at one stage before noon. In Seoul, the Kospi opened 45 points, or 0.66 percent, lower at 6,844 but regained ground to be around seven points under at one stage before lunch as strength in semiconductor ⁠stocks offset weakness elsewhere. (Reuters/Xinhua) Edited by Tony Sabine

Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Monday said Hong Kong would continue to support the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in helping members undertake preparatory work for infrastructure projects, creating favourable conditions for financing and smooth implementation to achieve development goals. The finance chief made the comments as he attended the AIIB's 11th annual meeting in Doha. Speaking at a governors' business roundtable, Chan said the AIIB could further promote knowledge and experience sharing among members, strengthen support for project planning and preparation, and help members enhance their project management and implementation capabilities to bring infrastructure projects to fruition. He said translating development needs into concrete projects requires not only financial support but also the capacity to plan and implement projects throughout their life cycle. The financial chief also delivered a keynote address on digital public infrastructure, citing Hong Kong's iAM Smart platform and Faster Payment System as examples. He noted that the rapid development of artificial intelligence was creating new opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of such infrastructure, while stressing the need to strengthen cybersecurity and data privacy. On the sidelines of the meeting, Chan met with Uzbekistan's Minister of Investment, Industry and Trade, Laziz Kudratov. He encouraged Uzbek enterprises to make use of Hong Kong's international financing platform, including listing opportunities for exchange-traded products and real estate investment trusts. Chan also met with the CEO of Qatar Development Bank, Abdulrahman Hesham Al-Sowaidi, to explore joint efforts to promote bilateral trade, support the development of start-ups in both places, and strengthen investment co-operation in venture capital. Edited by Tony Sabine

OpenAI is scrapping the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation AI model planned for an October debut, over safety concerns raised by researchers during internal testing, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The model, expected to appear in ChatGPT and Codex, was designed to handle more complex tasks without human assistance, the report said. Earlier this month, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow the development of frontier AI models to allow safety measures to keep pace, a view endorsed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The ChatGPT parent's safety chief Saachi Jain told the Journal on Monday that Astra fell short of the company's standards in alignment tests, which assess whether a system follows human intent. The model showed more deception than its predecessor, including at times failing to accurately disclose actions it had or had not taken, the report said. It also had problems with "scope authorisation", pushing ahead with tasks without requesting user permission and sometimes attempting to use external tools or services when doing so could be unsafe. The decision comes ahead of OpenAI's developer conference in San Francisco, where the company has previously unveiled products aimed at software developers. (Reuters) Edited by Cecil Wong