Clouds cross through Tianmen Cave, enchant visitors

A spectacular natural phenomenon appeared at Tianmen Mountain National Forest Park in Zhangjiajie City, central China's Hunan Province on Thursday, drawing crowds of tourists who stopped to admire the breathtaking sight.

The mountain was seen shrouding in rolling clouds, with mist swirling through the iconic Tianmen Cave.

The phenomenon typically occurs after rainfall when there is abundant water vapor with the right wind direction.

Tianmen Cave, or Heaven's Gate, is a natural, water-eroded cave. With an altitude of more than 1,300 meters, it is the world's highest natural mountain cave.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed lower on Friday due to the impact of the inclusion of new AI companies this month, said Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).

Hong Kong's stock market ended lower Friday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 1.76 percent to close at 22,671.86 points.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slid 1.94 percent to 7,460.84 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index plummeted 3.41 percent to 4,255.59 points.

Two of China's leading AI companies, Knowledge Atlas (Zhipu) and MiniMax, joined the Hang Seng Tech Index in early June. Though only listed in January, both have become the best-performing new stocks on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Pope said the inclusion of the two companies marks a significant milestone for the Hong Kong market, yet there will be a painful period before the adaption is complete.

"Hong Kong's Hang Seng, of course, has only just taken steps to increase its exposure to AI stocks, and that was definitely a factor in taking the index to a one-year low today. It was down by 1.8 percent at the end of the trade, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 3.4 percent. The two stocks which were added to the Hang Seng to counter criticism over a lack of AI exposure for the index - Knowledge Atlas technologies and MiniMax - both Chinese companies working on large language AI models - tanked today. Knowledge Atlas was off by 12.9 percent and MiniMax by 6.5 percent despite a last minute attempt to claw back some losses," Pope said.

Pope said regardless of the general loss, some companies achieved good performance on the Hong Kong market.

"You actually had to look quite hard for good news on the Hong Kong markets today, but it was there, for debut companies like tech manufacturer - and ironically Apple supplier - Lingyi (iTech). It completed a billion-dollar IPO this week and its stock was up 73 percent today, its first day of trade," he added.