China blue chips fall to 14-month low on tech selloff

According to Business Recorder, Chinese and Hong Kong equities slid on Tuesday as an AI-related sell-off spread across Asia. By the midday break, the blue-chip CSI300 index was 0.6% lower, its weakest since August 2025, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.3% to 3,787.16, a three-month low.

Tech-focused names took heavier losses, with the STAR50 sliding as much as 3.6% before recovering to a 0.7% decline. Heavyweight CXMT dropped as much as 5.3%, its lowest since July, even though reports pointed to advances in its memory chip design. Sinolink Securities analysts said investors' worries about tech fundamentals may not be fully reflected in prices, and noted that the US AI rally is also cooling.

New energy vehicle stocks also fell after China announced a lower rebate on value-added tax for exports from April next year, with the CSI New Energy Vehicle index down 3.2% by the morning close. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 0.4% to 24,176.05 and the Hang Seng Tech dropped 1.5%. Japan's Nikkei lost 2.20% and South Korea's KOSPI plunged over 6%.