Market Performance: The Hang Seng Index (HSI) fell by 111 points (0.4%) to 25,357, with the HSCEI and HSTECH also experiencing declines of 0.6% and 1.3%, respectively, amid a total turnover of HK$79.066 billion.

Xiaomi's Downgrade: Xiaomi's shares dropped 3.1% to HK$39.94 after Jefferies downgraded the stock from Buy to Hold, citing profit margin pressures due to rising memory costs.

Share Placements and Partnerships: SenseTime proposed a share placement at a discount, causing its shares to fall nearly 3.6%, while Minth Group partnered with a robotics company, resulting in a slight drop in its share price.

Financial Sector Movements: HSBC and HKEX saw minor gains of 0.3% and 0.25%, respectively, while AIA lost 0.2%. CICC's shares surged 3.6% following the announcement of a merger plan, while China Cinda's shares declined by 2.2%.

Market Overview: The HSI opened down 137 points (0.5%) at 25,330, with declines in the HSCEI and HSTECH as well, reflecting a negative sentiment in the market.

Stock Movements: Notable declines were observed in tech stocks like SENSETIME-W, BABA-W, and TENCENT, while CICC surged 7.1% after announcing a merger plan.

Carmakers Performance: Major car manufacturers such as BYD and LI AUTO saw declines of 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively, amid a reported 4% YoY drop in new energy vehicle sales.

Short Selling Trends: Significant short selling activity was noted across various stocks, with SENSETIME-W and XIAOMI-W experiencing high short selling ratios of 39.596% and 34.442%, respectively.

Stock Performance: CHINA CINDA (01359.HK) opened 7.26% higher at HKD1.33 with significant pre-market trading volume of 35.7967 million shares, totaling HKD47.6095 million.

Short Selling Activity: The stock experienced short selling of $6.96 million, with a ratio of 9.338%.

Merger Announcement: CHINA CINDA's subsidiary, CINDA SECURITIES, announced a legally binding cooperation agreement with CICC and DONGXING SECURITIES for a proposed merger through absorption and share exchanges.

Shareholding Structure: CINDA SECURITIES is the indirect controlling shareholder of CINDA INTL HLDG (00111.HK).

Trading Halt: Trading of CICC's H shares has been suspended at 9:00 a.m. on the 20th due to pending inside information, affecting all related debt securities and structured products.

Merger Plans: CICC is planning to merge with DONGXING SECURITIES and CINDA SECURITIES through absorption and share exchange.

China's Strategy for Unsold Properties: China plans to mobilize state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and asset managers to acquire unsold residential properties from struggling developers, utilizing RMB300 billion allocated by the central bank.

Limited Impact of Previous Measures: Despite previous efforts in May 2024 for local SOEs to buy completed unsold commercial housing, the impact on reducing excess inventory has been minimal.