By Jiaxing Li
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese tech stocks listed in Hong Kong advanced on Friday for their best weekly winning streak since 2020, as earnings surprises and optimism about the artificial intelligence sector drew global investors rotating funds into the sector.
The Hang Seng Tech Index closed up 6.5%, its best single-day gain since October, to reach its highest in three years.
That took its weekly gain to more than 6% in its sixth straight week of advances, the longest winning streak since May 2020.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index advanced 4% to a three-year high.
Alibaba surged 14.6% to the highest since late 2021, after the Chinese e-commerce giant reported better-than expected-revenue and said it plans to invest more in e-commerce and AI.
Lenovo advanced over 15% to near a ten-year high after quarterly results smashed estimates, while Xiaomi added 5.2%, hitting a record high.
Chinese tech stocks have been on a tear since the launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek last month that reignited global investors' interest in China and spurred funds into rotating into the sector because of its relatively cheap valuations.
Investors bet President Xi Jinping's rare meeting with the country's biggest business leaders - including Alibaba's founder Jack Ma - could signal a policy U-turn following years of crackdowns on the sector, further fuelling the rally.
"There's more to go with the valuation discount to emerging markets to narrow more," HSBC analysts said in a note, also citing the return of foreign investment inflows during the last two weeks.
Onshore stocks also edged up on Friday, with the bluechip CSI 300 Index adding 1.3% and the Shanghai Composite Index climbing 0.9%. Both benchmarks are at the highest level since late December.
China's tech rally has helped add more than $1.3 trillion to the country's onshore and offshore equity markets in just a month, driving investment flows away from India and into China, said James Cook, investment director of emerging markets at Federated Hermes, adding that Chinese companies are fast catching up with the global AI frenzy after missing out.
(Reporting by Jiaxing Li in Hong Kong; Editing by Sonali Paul and Janane Venkatraman)
