Alibaba, Baidu, Tencent Slide: Hang Seng Falls 1% As Bank Of Japan Rate Decision Eyed

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index opened in the red on Thursday as shares of Baidu Inc BIDU, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA, Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY, and Meituan MPNGF took a hit. Investors are keenly eyeing the Bank of Japan's rate decision due later today.

Tech Loses Steam: Shares of Alibaba lost over 1%, while internet giant Baidu's shares fell 2.2% and Tencent shed nearly 1%, despite the tech rally overnight on Wall Street.

Shopping platform Meituan's shares lost close to 0.21%.

The Hang Seng was down 1.25% at press time.

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EVs Defy Trend: NIO Inc NIO defied the trend with the stock gaining more than 1% in opening trade. Tesla Inc TSLA rival XPeng Inc XPEV was trading marginally higher, while Li Auto Inc LI was down 1.27%.

E-commerce player JD.com Inc JD gained 0.41%.

Macro News: The Bank of Japan is expected to maintain its benchmark lending rate at -0.1%. Investors also await the quarterly BoJ Outlook Report.

China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is speeding up approvals for coal-fired power plants this year as officials try to mitigate the risk of financially crippling electricity shortages, says Greenpeace, according to a report on the Hong Kong Free Press. According to Greenpeace research, Chinese authorities have approved coal plants with a total capacity of 8.63 gigawatts in the first quarter of 2022.

Hong Kong has ended compulsory isolation for people infected with highly infectious COVID-19 sub-variants at government-run facilities, reports Bloomberg. Local patients infected with sub-variants BA.2.12.1, BA.4, or BA.5, along with their close contacts, will not have to face mandatory isolation at community facilities.

Company News: Tesla's TSLA Shanghai factory has officially surpassed its California plant to have the largest capacity, with an annual capacity of over 750,000 vehicles, reports CnEVPost.

Alibaba and Tencent shares have been added by China’s top money manager Zhang Kun, who manages $14.4 billion of assets in four funds, reports South China Morning Post.

Global Markets: U.S. markets surged on Wednesday, led by a rally in tech stocks, with the Nasdaq index surging 1.58%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.15% higher, while the S&P 500 rose 0.59%.

After the Senate pushed forward a $50 billion bill to boost chip manufacturing in the U.S., semiconductor stocks gained significantly, CNBC reported. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. AMD shot up 4.13%, NVIDIA Corporation NVDA rose 4.8%, and Qualcomm Inc. QCOM gained 2.94%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.25% while South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.27%. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.42%, while Australia’s ASX 200 was down 0.16%.