Alibaba, JD Surge Over 3% As Earnings Come Into Focus: Hong Kong Traders Shrug Off Pelosi-Linked Taiwan Tensions

Shares of Alibaba and JD.com rose over 3% in Wednesday morning opening trade, with Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index also beginning on a positive note, gaining 0.91%. Alibaba is set to release its June-quarter earnings on Thursday.

Also Read: What Alibaba, Tencent, And Baidu's June-Quarter Earnings May Look Like

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived at the Taiwan legislature and is expected to meet politicians and activists amid strong responses from Beijing, which has jacked up its military exercises.

Macro News: China is set to conduct a series of military actions surrounding Taiwan in response to Pelosi’s visit to the island. Observers believe the announced actions are a clear upgrade by the military, and these are likely to continue in the future, reported the South China Morning Post.

China's services activity expanded at the fastest rate in 15 months with the Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PM) rising to 55.5 in July, the fastest growth since April 2021, Reuters reported.

Analysts are expecting a rise in Hong Kong’s prime lending rate as early as this month as a key indicator of banking liquidity continues to fall, reported South China Morning Post.

Hong Kong’s new leader John Lee has got the joint-lowest popularity rating immediately post taking office as compared to his predecessors, according to a poll, as reported by the Hong Kong Free Press Journal.

Company News: Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu are expected to post a decline in their revenues for the June quarter, as per a Bloomberg report. 

Tesla Inc TSLA rival XPeng Motors has built China's largest self-driving computing center named "Fuyao" for self-driving model training, in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, reported CnEVPost.

With Nio vehicles set to hit the roads in Germany, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands soon, users in these countries can start registering on the app, reported CnEVPost.

Global Markets: U.S. markets fell on Tuesday as investors continued to closely monitor developments related to Pelosi’s Taiwan visit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.23%, the S&P 500 shed 0.67%, while the Nasdaq was down 0.16%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s ASX 200 traded 0.51% lower, Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up by 0.5%, while the South Korean Kospi rose 0.32%. China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 0.68%.