Xi Jinping Meets Chinese Tech Leaders As Local Markets Start Year Strong (HSI, SSE)

Chinese President Xi Jinping conducted a high-level symposium with some of the country's top entrepreneurs, signalling strong government support for the private sector.

The SSE index ended the day having gained 0.27%, as the Hang Seng Index was largely unchanged. The indices have had been accelerating at varying paces through 2025 so far, with the Hang Seng's 15.25% gain overshadowing that of the SSE composite's 2.86%.

The symposium witnessed the presence of key figures from China’s tech industry, including Alibaba Group co-founder Jack Ma, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, and BYD company’s Wang Chuanfu. This gathering underlined the vital role these entrepreneurs and their companies play in China’s economy and technological growth.

The meeting and the subsequent market reactions come at a time when the US-China trade relations are tense. Recent actions include a 10% tariff imposed by former US President Donald Trump on Chinese products, which was met with retaliatory measures from Beijing.

Alibaba's shares in Hong Kong (9988.HK) initially added more than 4% during early trading hours today, before settling into the close down 1.53%. Despite the mild pullback today, the stock has seen an increase of over 50% in the past month, partly fuelled by optimism surrounding the development of it's AI model. Furthermore, there is potential collaboration in the pipeline between Alibaba and Apple to introduce artificial intelligence features to iPhones in China by mid-2025.

As both the SSE (+16%) and the Hang Seng (+28.7%) have gained markedly over the past 6 months, there are many looking to China and Hong Kong for a continued rally.

With the company due to report earnings this week, alongside Baidu, we can expect to see further insights into recent developments before long. Strong government support is a crucial boost to the sector as Chinese listed stocks look to rebound from a disappointing couple of years.