KGI Asia Commentary
Hang Seng Index rose 76 points on Tuesday
The Hang Seng Index rose 76 points or 0.4% to 21,298 on Tuesday. HSTECH rose 51 points or 1.2% to 4,516 and HSCEI rose 42 points or 0.6% to 7,232. Daily market turnover was HK$103.7bn.
ChatGPT ignites a new AI craze
The successful launch of chatbot operated by Microsoft-backed OpenAI has sparked a buzz in the field. Microsoft invited journalists to its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, for an artificial intelligence-based event centered around the company's Bing search engine and Edge browser. Bing will now allow users to chat in a way that provides more detailed answers to queries. Microsoft plans to release a technology that will help large companies launch their own chatbots using OpenAI ChatGPT technology. Companies can remove the Microsoft or OpenAI branding when releasing chatbots developed with Microsoft or OpenAI software.
On Monday, Google announced an AI-powered chatbot technology called Bard that will be available in the next few weeks. Bard will compete directly with ChatGPT.
Meanwhile, Shares of Baidu, the Chinese search engine giant, soared on Tuesday after the company said it would launch its own ChatGPT-style service. Its artificial intelligence chatbot called “Wenxin Yiyan” in Chinese or “ERNIE Bot” in English will launch in March, and the project is currently being tested internally. The company provided no details on what the tool would look like, or whether it would appear as a feature in its popular search engine. Baidu's Hong Kong-listed shares jumped more than 15% following the news.
U.S. stocks rise after Powell says inflation is falling
U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation had begun to ease. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 265.67 points, or 0.78%, to end at 34,156.69. The S&P 500 rose 1.29% to close at 4,164.00. The Nasdaq Composite posted its biggest one-day gain, rising 1.9% to close at 12,113.79. Powell said inflation was starting to ease, though he expected it to be a long process, while warning that rates could rise more than markets expect if economic data doesn't cooperate.“If we continue to get, for example, strong labor market reports or higher inflation reports, it may well be the case that we have do more and raise rates more than is priced in,” he said.
Hong Kong Stock Connect had a net inflow of HK$17mn on Tuesday, of which Wuxi Bio (2269) had the largest net inflow, reaching HK$0.21bn; followed by CNOOC (883). Tracker Fund (2800) recorded the largest net outflow at HK$0.44bn, followed by HSCEI ETF (2828).
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