Fed's MUSALEM said he welcomes the Fed working group.

At the midday close, the Hang Seng Index fell 1.75% and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 1.87%; market turnover was HKD 149.6 bln. Sector losers included insurance, semiconductors and power-equipment stocks; optical communications, PCB-related names and gold outperformed. Notable movers: MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) rose over 16%; 02476.HK and 00815.HK gained more than 7%; 03308.HK added over 5%; AIA Group (01299.HK) fell more than 8%; 03277.HK dropped over 6%; SMIC (00981.HK) fell over 4%.

US President Trump formally signed an executive order imposing tariffs on polysilicon.