Asian equities were largely higher overnight despite the U.S. dollar strengthening overnight. Hong Kong led the push higher on very high volumes, the Philippines and Pakistan outperformed, while Mainland China underperformed after afternoon profit-taking.

China’s technology stocks slumped Wednesday after a brief bull run earlier in the week. Alibaba’s Hong Kong-traded stock fell 1.03%, while search engine giant Baidu fell 2.11% after it reported a 2% drop in revenue for its fourth quarter compared to a year earlier as artificial intelligence rivalry heats up in China.

Hong Kong stocks retreated from near a five-month high as a bull run in Chinese technology leaders hit technical barriers while search-engine operator Baidu slumped after reporting a decline in revenue.

Gary Black highlighted metrics from Baidu's autonomous driving, noting that the robotaxi service achieved 1.1 million paid rides in Q4.

Baidu Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU) saw its shares climb in Hong Kong trading on Wednesday after confirming its $2.1 billion acquisition of YY Live from JOYY Inc. (NASDAQ:YY). Baidus stock (HK:9888) surged up to 3% to HK$88.

Now, Baidu has finally bought the business, known as YY Live, after Beijing softened its stance towards the tech sector following a regulatory crackdown four years ago. JOYY had received about $1.86 billion in February 2021 as part of the original agreement and an additional cash of about $240 million on Tuesday.

A recent summit for private entrepreneurs in Beijing, attended by tech leaders including Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Huawei founder Zhengfei Ren, has drawn attention to the notable absence of Baidu founder Robin Li.

U.S. stock indexes are wavering on Wall Street Wednesday. The S&P 500 was mostly unchanged, a day after setting an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 122 points, or 0.3%, as of 12:18 p.

Chinese internet giant Baidu said on Tuesday (Feb 25) it had purchased social media platform JOYY Inc’s livestreaming business for US$2.1 billion, a year after it cancelled a deal partly because it failed to get government approval.

The Beijing-based internet company said Tuesday that fourth-quarter revenue fell 2.4%, better than analysts’ estimates.

Baidu [HKG: 9888] ended 2.1 percent lower at HKD88.35 (USD11.36) a share in Hong Kong today, after its New York-listed stock [NASDAQ: BIDU] shed 7.5 percent yesterday to end at USD90.16.

China and Hong Kong markets faced setbacks with key tech stocks dropping amid rising U.S. tariff concerns. The Hang Seng Tech Index saw dips, despite previous streaks of gains influenced by strong earnings and AI optimism.