Hong Kong stocks fell, briefly driving the benchmark below the 23,000-point mark for the first time in a year, as technology companies led the decline

The Hang Seng Index slid by as much as 1.8 per cent to 22,992.62. If the decline is sustained, the benchmark would close below the threshold of 23,000 for the first time since June last year. It recently traded at 23,024.69 as of 3:03pm local time.

On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index closed up 1.56 per cent.

Alibaba Group Holding slumped 4.2 per cent to HK$95.20, leading the pack of decliners among technology companies after Anthropic PBC accused the company of “illicitly” extracting capabilities from Claude.

Tencent Holdings lost 1.2 per cent to HK$423.60 and Meituan fell 1.6 per cent to HK$66.65.

Sentiment on Hong Kong stocks worsened over the past weeks, as the Federal Reserve shifted to a more hawkish tone under new chair Kevin Warsh and the turmoil in South Korean chip stocks spurred global concerns about the valuations of AI stocks.