Hong Kong stocks dipped on Wednesday as investors weighed trade tensions with the US and hype around the domestic artificial-intelligence sector.

The Hang Seng Index fell 1.3% at 10.26am local time, surrendering some of Tuesday’s strongest gain in three months. The Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 1.7%.

In terms of star stocks, JD.com and NIO fell 4%; Li Auto fell 3%; Bilibili, SMIC, and XPeng fell 2%; Tencent, Alibaba, and Xiaomi fell more than 1%.

After the US imposed 10 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods on Tuesday, a range of industries such as home appliances, lithium batteries and electric vehicles are expected to take a hit, according to analysts.

“Although this only affects certain industries, ongoing uncertainty in the US-China trade war could become a headline risk that could create volatility for the Chinese market,” Kai Wang, Morningstar’s Asia equity market strategist, said late on Tuesday.

China’s countermeasures announced on the same day were less forceful than the market expected. They were deemed “largely symbolic” given that only about 12 per cent of total imports from the US would be subject to tariffs, Wang added.

Eyes are on an coming call between US President Donald Trump and China, with hopes that it would mitigate some risks.