Alibaba, Nio Strike Gains, Peers Trade Mixed: What's Driving Hong Kong Markets Today

Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese firms were a mixed bag in Hong Kong on Monday at press time.

While Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA, JD.com Inc JD, Baidu Inc BIDU, Xpeng Inc XPEV, and NIO Inc NIO were trading in the green, Tencent Holdings TCEHY and Li Auto Inc LI were among losers on the index.

Shares of these Chinese companies ended on a positive note on Friday in U.S. markets.

Global Markets Recap: After starting the day in green, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 0.11% in morning trading.

Elsewhere, Australia's ASX 200 gained over 0.22%, and Japan's Nikkei 225 was up 0.24%, after paring early gains, while Shanghai's SSE Composite Index was down 0.29%.

Macro Factors: Disappointing economic numbers from China due to its strict COVID-19 curbs hampered sentiment. The country reported a major drop in retail sales and industrial production in April – worse than what analysts expected. 

China is also stepping up its stimulus efforts as it faces tremendous economic pressure. On Sunday, the People's Bank of China said it is reducing the lower limit on interest rates for residents' first home loans.

The Hong Kong government also downgraded its full-year forecast for the city's economic growth to 1%-2% for 2022 from a prior 2%-3.5%, reflecting the hit from the fifth wave of coronavirus cases in the first quarter.

Company In News: Alibaba's joint venture in Russia has laid off about 40% of its employees. The company continued its restructuring activities as planned and international diversification amid an uncertain domestic regulatory environment.

Its financial technology arm Ant Group is expanding in Singapore. 

E-commerce giant JD is scheduled to release its first-quarter earnings before U.S. markets open on Tuesday.

The rally in most EV stocks was spurred by Shanghai's decision of a phased return for businesses to resume operations starting Monday, according to CnEVPost.