Surging interest in licensing deals between Chinese drug developers and Western pharmaceutical giants has driven up biopharmaceutical stocks in Hong Kong, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) analyst Timothy Pope.
Hong Kong's stock market ended higher Friday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 0.54 percent to close at 25,668.03 points. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 0.39 percent to end at 8,531.58 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index climbed 0.78 percent to end at 4,858.29 points.
"The Hang Seng was up 0.5 percent, and two of the three top performers were the two WuXi drug-development services research groups: WuXi Biologics and WuXi AppTec, up around almost 11 percent for WuXi Biologics and 7 percent for WuXi AppTec," said Pope.
Only a couple of months ago, the Hang Seng Tech Index was facing criticism that it didn't have enough exposure to the AI boom. However, today's report from Morgan Stanley said otherwise.
"There's also a note from Morgan Stanley today which I think is a perfect example of the increased caution with which the big investment banks and investors generally I suppose are viewing the AI trade. Morgan Stanley says it currently favors Hong Kong equities in part because they're less exposed to the crowded global AI trade," Pope noted.
Investors heavily into biopharma stocks in Hong Kong market: analyst
