By WSJ Staff
Alibaba, Tencent and other Chinese technology stocks surged Friday, lifting Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index to a near-three-year high.
Market moves pointed to a likely rally in U.S. hours, too, with the Kraneshares CSI China Internet ETF, or KWEB, advancing premarket. Alibaba's American depositary receipts $(BABA)$ traded higher.
Chinese tech stocks have been boosted by optimism about artificial intelligence, stoked by the emergence of DeepSeek. Meantime, a recent meeting President Xi Jinping held with industry leaders has signaled an earlier era of tech crackdowns is over.
As for Alibaba, strong results out Thursday, an Apple partnership that will see Alibaba AI used for iPhones in China, and fresh stake-building by U.S. investor Ryan Cohen have also helped boost sentiment.
The rally extends a roller-coaster ride for Chinese stocks. They have been roiled in recent years by U.S.-China tensions, the pandemic, Xi's tough approach to the private sector, and a property bust that has fed a broader economic slowdown.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 21, 2025 08:53 ET (13:53 GMT)
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