SINGAPORE – Shares in Hong Kong’s Chinese tech giant Alibaba were once again in the spotlight on Monday. This came after Chinese regulators ordered Alibaba subsidiary Ant Group to rectify its business.
In the afternoon in Hong Kong, the city-listed Alibaba shares fell 7.01%, adding to the losses for the company. The stock was also down last Thursday after reports that Chinese regulators will investigate the tech behemoth for suspected monopoly behavior.
Shares in other Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech companies also fell, with Tencent down 4.77% while Meituan was down 5.3%. The broader Hang Seng Tech Index lost 3.27%.
Asia markets higher
Meanwhile, stocks in Asia rose on Monday at the start of the final week of trading in 2020.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.56% while the Topix index gained 0.38%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.36%.
Mainland China stocks rose in the afternoon, with the Shanghai Composite gaining 0.3% while the Shenzhen component gaining 0.435%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index hovered above the flatline.
The broadest MSCI index for stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan, rose 0.28%.
Chinese industrial companies’ profits rose 15.5% year over year in November, the country’s National Bureau of Statistics announced over the weekend.
The markets in Australia and New Zealand are closed on Monday for public holidays.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, stood at 90.198 after falling above 90.4 in the past few days.
The Japanese yen was trading at 103.56 per dollar after seeing below 103.4 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7609 after recovering from plunging below $ 0.75 last week.
Oil prices fell in the afternoon of Asia’s trading hours, with the international benchmark Brent crude oil futures falling 0.43% to $ 51.07 a barrel. US crude oil futures also fell 0.31% to $ 48.08 a barrel.
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