Mainland stocks bounced while Hong Kong shares steadied on Tuesday as bargain hunters pounced on battered chipmakers following Monday's rout, with sentiment supported by an overnight rebound on Wall Street.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 91 points, or 0.4 percent, to 24,565 on turnover of HK$308.92 billion.

The tech index rose 13 points, or 0.3 percent, to 4,769 while the China enterprises index fell 16 points, or 0.2 percent, to 8,324.

Up north, the Shanghai Composite Index closed 50 points, or 1.28 percent, higher at 4,010.

The Shenzhen Component Index was 447 points, or 3.02 percent, up at 15,268 while the ChiNext was almost 150 points, or 3.93 percent, higher at 3,961.

China's Star Semiconductor Index surged eight percent on Tuesday, while the CSI Semiconductor Industry Index jumped six percent.

The CSI Artificial Intelligence Index gained 3.4 percent and Hong Kong-listed chipmakers also rebounded sharply.

Energy shares in both the mainland and Hong Kong slumped as oil prices eased amid Middle Eastern developments.

China's stronger-than-expected trade data, and news that Iran and Israel had halted attacks on each other, also aided sentiment.

"Valuation and risks in AI stocks are rising, but we're not yet entering the 2000-style bubble burst,” Guangfa Securities said in a report.

"The AI sector is being supported by real capital expenditure and profit."

Some see the recent selloff in China's tech stocks as a good buying opportunity.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei share average ended higher by 1,392 points, or 2.17 percent, at 65,416 as chip-related heavyweights recovered from heavy losses in the previous session.

The broader Topix rose 43 points, or 1.14 percent, to 3,896.

In Seoul, the Kospi recouped most of its losses from Monday to end up 612 points, or 8.18 percent, at 8,096 as investors snapped up beaten-down technology stocks.

Asian markets rallied after Wall Street saw some support from a bounce in technology stocks.

Investor sentiment was also buoyed by news that ChatGPT maker OpenAI had confidentially filed for a US initial public offering, joining rival Anthropic in a push towards the stock market. (Reuters/Xinhua)



Edited by Tony Sabine