Published on 08/19/2026 at 01:05 am EDT
(Reuters) - Chinese stocks fell on Wednesday, led by a sell-off in semiconductor and robotics shares amid concerns over the broader economy and certain disappointing corporate earnings, while Hong Kong shares edged up.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index was down 2.4% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 2%.
** Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was up 0.2%.
** Shares in Unitree, China's best-known humanoid robot maker, soared nearly 500% by the midday in its Shanghai trading debut.
** Investors see the IPOas pivotal for the country's robotics sector, which has become a key battleground in the Sino-U.S. tech war.
** Still, the broader CSI Robot Index slumped more than 6% while semiconductor stocks lost 7%, tracking a retreat in global tech stocks amid surging long-term borrowing costs.
** "China's weakness today looks more like a combination of global yield pressure, some rotation out of crowded technology trades and company-specific earnings disappointments than simply a Unitree liquidity drain," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Singapore.
** The bigger message is that investors are becoming more demanding on earnings and AI monetisation, while the broader economy continues to show signs of weakness, she added.
** In Hong Kong, index heavyweight Baidu tumbled 12% due to lower-than-expected second-quarter results.
** China Unicom dropped nearly 8% as the firm posted an over 30% decline in first-half net profit.
** Financial and property shares outperformed in both A-share and Hong Kong markets, as investors pinned hopes on the property sector after China announced revised regulations to allow flexible usage of its housing provident fund.
** The smaller Shenzhen index fell 3.86%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index dropped 4.98% and Shanghai's tech-focused

STAR

50 index slumped 6.07%.
(Reporting by Summer Zhen; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

Sumber : Reuters