Alibaba, Nio, Chinese Peers Slide: What's Dragging Hong Kong Stocks Today?

Shares of U.S.-listed Chinese firms were subdued on Tuesday morning in Hong Kong, with major tech names like Alibaba Group Holding BABA, JD.com Inc JD, Baidu Inc BIDU, and Tencent Holdings TCEHY coming under pressure.

Among electric vehicle makers, NIO Inc NIO and Xpeng Inc XPEV fell as much as 8% and 9%, respectively, whereas Li Auto Inc LI was down about 2.2%.

Shares of these companies ended mostly lower in U.S. markets on Monday.

Global Markets Recap: At press time, the Hang Seng index fell nearly 1.39% as investors braced for weaker earnings from tech heavyweights.

Elsewhere, Australia's ASX 200 was trading on a muted note, while Shanghai's SSE Composite Index lost 0.79% and Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.51%.

Macro Factors: According to CGTN, China's State Council said on Monday that it will implement multiple concrete measures to support the sagging economy, including more tax credit rebates and higher loan limits.

UBS Investment Bank Research's chief China economist Dr. Tao Wang expects a notable sequential rebound in Q3 and Q4, "assuming the government will refine COVID-19 restrictions and reduce disruptions to transport and supply chain."

In Tokyo, U.S. President Joe Biden, in a news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said he was considering cutting tariffs on Chinese goods.

Companies In News: JD kicked off its annual 618 Grand Promotion, one of China's largest mid-year shopping festivals. The company said the promotion would offer preferential benefits for U.S. merchants launched through the company's partnership with Shopify Inc SHOP.

Baidu on Monday said Beijing authorities had issued a new batch of driverless licenses following their nod for the company to provide driverless ride-hailing services.

Tencent co-founder Pony Ma sparked a fresh discussion about China's economic woes after he shared an opinion piece on the economic costs of China's strict COVID-19 curbs.

Xpeng reported its unaudited financial results on Monday. The company said first-quarter revenue increased 152.6% year-over-year to RMB 7.45 billion ($1.18 billion), beating estimates.

In other trade news, NYSE VC and Chief Commercial Officer John Tuttle expects the number of Chinese companies listed in the U.S. to remain the same or grow amid the delisting threat.