Hong Kong stocks closed higher on Wednesday, hitting a three-year high after Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po released the Budget.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.3%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index surged 4.5% to briefly break 6,000 points, hitting a near three-year high.

State-owned China International Capital Corp (CICC) is set to merge with its peer China Galaxy Securities , said five sources, in a deal that would create the country’s third-largest brokerage with $193 billion in assets. CICC surged 19%, while China Galaxy jumped 17%.

In terms of other individual stocks, Meituan rose 10%; JD.com rose 9%; XPeng and Li Auto rose 8%; SMIC, Xiaomi, Horizon Robotics, and Bilibili rose 6%; Alibaba rose 5%; Kuaishou rose 4%; Tencent, NetEase, Baidu, and Trip.com rose 3%; while NIO and Lenovo Group fell 1%.

Hong Kong aims to cut spending by slashing 10,000 civil service jobs in an effort to rein in a rising deficit, and plans a big AI push as it navigates headwinds from global economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and a weak property market.

What's more, Hong Kong will launch a new channel on the stock exchange designed to expedite listings of tech companies, the latest move by the fundraising hub to boost attractiveness amid rising appetite of Chinese companies to raise funds offshore.

Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) is to establish a dedicated "technology enterprises channel", Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on Wednesday.

The channel will facilitate specialist technology and biotechnology companies' listings in Hong Kong, particularly those already listed in the mainland, Chan said while delivering his 2025-26 budget.

In terms of company news, Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba said on Wednesday its video- and image-generating artificial intelligence model Wan 2.1 is now publicly available - or open source - in a move likely to increase its uptake and intensify competition in AI.

Xiaomi CEO said '90% sure' SU7 Ultra will hit 10,000-unit sales target this year, ssending its shares to a new high.

XPeng announced today that it will unveil the 2025 G6 on February 28, with a live video stream beginning at 2 pm Beijing time that day.