Alibaba Gains 5% On Manulife AI Partnership In Hong Kong

Jardine Matheson Holdings (JMH) is considering further asset sales to shift from operating businesses to an investment-focused model, sources say. Mandarin Oriental International may sell the remaining Hong Kong office tower after a HK$7.2 billion sale of 13 floors to Alibaba and Ant Group. Other possible sales include its Mercedes-Benz dealership Zung Fu. JMH has proposed/completed at least US$10.5 billion in deals and shares are up over 40% in a year.

The article says China’s AI push toward leadership by 2030 is shaped by both state policy and intense domestic market competition. It cites Beijing’s 15th Five-Year Plan and “AI+” initiative, but argues “involution” drives price wars, talent poaching, and provincial rivalry. Examples include ByteDance’s 99% Doubao price cut and DeepSeek’s 75% V4-Pro cut. It also notes DeepSeek talks to raise $7.35 billion and that regulators ordered Meta’s $2 billion Manus deal unwound.

Chinese investors cut exposure to Hong Kong-listed stocks as mainland AI shares attract capital. Bloomberg data show 25 billion yuan outflows from Hong Kong-equity ETFs via mainland exchanges last week, the largest weekly total on record. After four months of Hong Kong underperformance, Goldman Sachs downgraded H shares to market-weight, citing higher “opportunity cost” and reduced EPS growth forecasts for 2026-27.

Meituan reported a March-quarter operating loss of 6.5 billion yuan (~$961 million), smaller than an average analyst estimate of about 9 billion yuan, while revenue rose 5.6% to 91 billion yuan. The company said subsidy intensity is easing but order growth may slow in the second half due to 2025 comparisons. Meituan faces ongoing food-delivery antitrust scrutiny and plans to expand overseas via Keeta.

China’s CSRC said it will punish Futu, Tiger Brokers and Long Bridge for letting mainland retail investors trade overseas stocks without licenses, confiscating gains and requiring a two-year cleanup with buying prohibited and only selling allowed. Separately, some Hong Kong banks reportedly require mainland clients to sign declarations about fund origins. Bloomberg also reported China is requiring government approval for overseas travel by some top AI professionals at private firms.

A draft commentary in the Communist Party journal Qiushi, due Monday, signals Beijing wants China’s major internet platforms—including Alibaba, Meituan and PDD Holdings—to reduce “involution-style” price wars and subsidies and instead invest more in strategic technologies such as AI and cloud computing. It also calls for tighter oversight of algorithms, data use and consumer protection.