Domestic AI savvy pushes markets up

Chinese onshore technology shares jumped on the first trading day following the Spring Festival holiday, underscoring reviving investor confidence despite tariff hikes from the United States, as homegrown artificial intelligence models make strides, analysts said.

The STAR 50 Index, which tracks Shanghai's sci-tech innovation board, rose 2.9 percent to close at 982.83 points on Wednesday, while the BSE 50, which tracks innovative small and medium-sized enterprises on the Beijing Stock Exchange, ended up 1.17 percent at 1070.38 points.

The rally was led by companies that have partnered with DeepSeek, a private Chinese startup that rocked the tech world recently with cost-effective AI large language models, or those that have benefited from the application of AI.