ESMO Annual Meeting Fuels Rally in Hong Kong Biopharma Stocks, Over 30 Domestic Drug Studies to Be Presented

The 2026 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Annual Meeting will be held from October 23 to 27. According to research from Guolian Minsheng Securities, a total of 96 late-breaking abstract results will be released at this year's ESMO Annual Meeting, of which 31 are studies related to drugs from Chinese companies. Multiple core data points are expected to serve as near-term stock price catalysts for the relevant listed companies. In addition, AI drug discovery catalysts have been密集 recently, with the industry focus gradually shifting from model capabilities to wet-lab validation efficiency and other aspects. Among them, the personalized cancer vaccine intismeran autogene, jointly developed by pharmaceutical giants Merck and Moderna, will also read out Phase 3 confirmatory data at the ESMO Annual Meeting, validating the effectiveness of AI assistance and serving as a major focus of market attention. CITIC Securities stated that the overall AI drug discovery market remains relatively small at present, but as more capital participates, technology iterates, and AI drug discovery pipelines gradually come to market and receive validation, the industry is expected to gradually enter a harvest period.

Market Outlook

Overnight, U.S. stocks closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 253.38 points at 51,521.28, a gain of 0.49%; the S&P 500 up 44.98 points at 7,818.93, a gain of 0.58%; and the Nasdaq Composite up 122.48 points at 27,599.79, a gain of 0.45%. The "Magnificent Seven" tech giants mostly rose, with Amazon up 1.95% and Microsoft up 0.78%. Optical communications and communications equipment concept stocks led the gains, with Nokia up over 7%, Corning up over 6%, Marvell Technology up over 5%, Cisco up over 4%, and Broadcom up over 3%. Storage concept stocks declined, with Seagate Technology down over 9%, Western Digital and SK Hynix down over 6%, and SanDisk down over 2%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed up 0.31% at 5,631.32. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the front-month WTI crude oil futures contract rose $0.48 to settle at $89.91 per barrel, a gain of 0.54%. The front-month COMEX gold futures contract rose $35.90, or 0.86%, to $4,192.7 per ounce.

Key Developments

Eddie Yue: The Linked Exchange Rate System is operating normally, and the timing of triggering the weak-side Convertibility Undertaking is difficult to predict. According to Zhitong Finance APP, after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time in three years last month, the Hong Kong-U.S. interest rate spread continued to widen, the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate weakened somewhat, once again triggering market attention on the Hong Kong dollar's trajectory. On October 6, Hong Kong Monetary Authority Chief Executive Eddie Yue, looking ahead at the short-term movement of the Hong Kong dollar, said it is affected by several factors, including capital market activity, market appetite for carry trades, local market liquidity conditions, and the outlook for Federal Reserve monetary policy. Under current circumstances, if a significant Hong Kong-U.S. interest rate spread persists, the automatic interest rate adjustment mechanism of the Linked Exchange Rate System will cause the Hong Kong dollar to weaken, and may even trigger the "weak-side Convertibility Undertaking," causing the Aggregate Balance of the banking system to decline, Hong Kong interbank rates to gradually rise, and stabilizing the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate within the Convertibility Zone of 7.75-7.85 against the U.S. dollar. This is by design and represents the effective normal operation of the Linked Exchange Rate System, but whether and when the "weak-side Convertibility Undertaking" is triggered is influenced by the aforementioned multiple factors and difficult to accurately predict.

KPMG: Hong Kong IPO fundraising is expected to reach HK$500 billion this year. KPMG released its "Mainland China and Hong Kong IPO Markets 2026 Q3 Review," stating that active listing applications currently exceed 600, and Hong Kong is expected to record its strongest annual fundraising performance ever, with full-year fundraising potentially reaching HK$500 billion. A+H listed companies, technology companies, and other new economy companies still account for a considerable proportion of applications, and related sectors are expected to continue to be important growth drivers for Hong Kong's IPO market in Q4 2026 and even 2027.

Reports say the UK government is considering raising import tariffs on electric vehicles from China; the Foreign Ministry responds. On October 6, 2026, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun answered questions from reporters. A Financial Times reporter asked: According to reports, the UK government is considering raising import tariffs on electric vehicles from China. What is China's comment? Guo Jiakun: Please inquire with the competent Chinese authorities on the specific question. The essence of economic and trade relations is to leverage respective comparative advantages and achieve mutual benefit and win-win outcomes. The development of China's electric vehicle industry has provided competitive choices for global consumers, including those in the UK, and has made positive contributions to the green and low-carbon transition. It is high-quality capacity that is in short supply.

Transsion Holdings (02636) plans a global offering of 86.6483 million shares, introducing cornerstone investors including GIC and E Fund. According to Zhitong Finance APP, Transsion Holdings is conducting its public offering from October 7, 2026 to October 12, 2026, planning a global offering of 86.6483 million H shares, with approximately 10% for Hong Kong public offering and approximately 90% for international offering. The offer price is no higher than HK$38.80 per offer share, with a board lot of 100 shares. The H shares are expected to commence trading on the Stock Exchange at 9:00 a.m. on October 15, 2026.

Force Development (01277): The rutile project officially commenced production on October 1, 2026. The rutile project is located in Rotifunk, Moyamba District, Sierra Leone. The mining license held by Minenet covers an area of approximately 117 square kilometers. According to information provided by Minenet, the rutile project area has reserves of approximately 4.532 million tonnes. The Group holds exclusive rights for exploration, mining, processing, and sales within the designated 50-square-kilometer area of the license. Sales channels to the Chinese market have been established, with customer resources covering regions including Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Liaoning. The sales path prioritizes supplying zirconium-titanium processing plants, gradually expanding toward end-product manufacturers.

Dragon Mining (01712): High-grade intersections discovered in drilling at the JOKISIVU gold mine. Dragon Mining announced that it has received final assay results from three recently completed underground diamond core drilling programs at the Jokisivu gold mine in southern Finland. These programs have identified multiple notable intersections, successfully delineating the extension of the Arpola target vein system, providing the Company with important information regarding its scale and morphology.

ZJLD (06979) Wanshang Alliance recovers over RMB 1.7 billion in 500 days. On September 28, the first annual conference of ZJLD's Wanshang Alliance was held. Wu Xiangdong, Chairman of ZJLD Group, stated that since May last year, the Wanshang Alliance has passed 500 days. Within 500 days, the Wanshang Alliance brought together 4,500 Dazhen alliance merchants, 8,000 Zhen Fifteen alliance merchants, and 800 Niushi super beer offline group-buying and channel customers, with cumulative recoveries exceeding RMB 1.7 billion. Among them, the strategic single product "Dazhen·Zhenjiu" launched in June 2025 has currently recovered over RMB 1.5 billion.

Stock Spotlight

GBA AI COMP (01396): The computing power leasing industry's prosperity is rising. Open Source Securities recently stated that the computing power supply-demand gap continues to widen, and the prosperity of the computing power leasing industry is rising. GBA AI COMP's interim financial report shows that during the period, the AI business achieved revenue of RMB 2.383 billion, accounting for 93% of total revenue; in-hand computing power orders exceed RMB 37 billion, demonstrating strong fulfillment capability. This means that after completing the acquisition and merger of Tiandun Data, the company has fully transformed into an "AI intelligent computing technology service provider and ecosystem construction platform," with half-year results exceeding expectations, confirming the effectiveness of the company's AI intelligent computing business transformation. It is worth noting that GBA AI COMP has completed preliminary actions this year including inclusion in the MSCI China Small Cap Index, a name change, and adjustment of Hang Seng industry classification, and is expected to be included in Stock Connect in the first quarter of 2027. Management expects that after Stock Connect inclusion is implemented, trillion-yuan southbound capital will reprice the company's computing power assets, and the market will gradually examine the company's value using the logic of a full-stack AI computing power infrastructure service provider.