Chinese tech, EV stocks fall on regulatory fears; property developer Soho China drops

Chinese tech, EV stocks fall on regulatory fears; property developer Soho China drops 35% on failed deal

Sep 13 2021

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Monday, with stocks in Hong Kong leading losses.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba dropped 4.23% following a Financial Times report that Beijing wants to break up Ant Group’s Alipay and force the creation of a separate loans app.

Other Chinese tech stocks also declined, with Tencent falling 2.45% while Meituan slipped 4.47%. The Hang Seng Tech index dropped 2.27% to 6,595.03.

Chinese electric vehicle stocks fell after the country’s industry minister said consolidation in the sector is needed as there are “too many” EV makers in China. BYD dropped 2.14% while Xpeng slipped 2.35%.

Meanwhile, Chinese property developer Soho China plunged 34.57% after a takeover deal by Blackstone Group fell through. Soho China said in a filing on Friday that Blackstone has decided not to go through with its $3 billion bid to buy the developer.

Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng index dropped 1.5% to finish the trading day at 25,813.81. Mainland Chinese stocks closed mixed, with the Shanghai composite up 0.33% to 3,715.37 while the Shenzhen component declined 0.447% to 14,705.83.

Other Asia-Pacific markets

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.22% higher on the day to close at 30,447.37 while the Topix index rose 0.29% to 2,097.71.

Shares of automakers Toyota and Honda fell 1.65% and 1.28% respectively. The two firms criticized a U.S. House electric vehicle tax plan that would benefit Detroit’s Big Three automakers, according to a Reuters report.

South Korea’s Kospi closed fractionally higher at 3,127.86. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia edged 0.25% higher to close at 7,425.20.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.75%.

Looking ahead for the week, the U.S. consumer price index for August is set to be out on Tuesday, while retail sales figures stateside are expected Thursday. A slew of Chinese economic data, including retail sales and industrial production for August, is also set to be out on Thursday.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.798 against an earlier low of 92.611.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.11 per dollar, stronger than levels around 110.4 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7358 following its slide last week from above $0.744.

Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.75% to $73.47 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.77% to $70.26 per barrel.