Hong Kong stocks close lower Wednesday

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index market ended lower Wednesday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 0.95 percent to close at 24,892.66 points.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index dropped 1.31 percent to end at 8,251.07 points, the Hang Seng Tech Index decreased by 3.04 percent to end at 4,668.23 points.

ASEAN Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn has called for broader free trade deals and closer ties with China to bring regional economic integration to the highest possible level.

In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing early in July, Kao urged the expansion of both the bilateral FTA and the RCEP at large.

Marking 35 years of dialog relations, China and ASEAN are celebrating the 5th anniversary of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

The two sides signed the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 Upgrade Protocol in October 2025 to turbocharge high-level collaboration.

They are also members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement encompassing 15 Asia-Pacific nations.

"What we need to do is to continue to strengthen our FTA to make better use of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. And I believe this is something that we should move forward as early as possible: the enlargement of the RCEP," he said.

Noting further economic integration requires closer cooperation across the board, Kao expressed expectations for the signing of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) by the end of the year, which aims to double Southeast Asia's digital economy to 2 trillion U.S. dollars by 2030.

"Our economies will become increasingly interdependent of each other. And we have to work together to take our current economic cooperation to the limits of the possibility. We talk about agricultural cooperation. We talk about investment, trade, tourism, connectivity. Or we talk about the digital sector. I think ASEAN has just concluded the negotiations for the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement. We're now going through legal scrubbing, and we expect to sign this DEFA agreement in November at the 49th ASEAN Summit. And that will help ASEAN to expand our digital economy," Kao said.

The ASEAN chief also emphasized that both sides should remain committed to true multilateralism to facilitate trade.

"But I think what's important is that we must support an open, rules-based and inclusive trading system. I think multilateral trading system is very important. ASEAN and China should work together to support that, particularly with the WTO at its core," Kao said.