Alibaba, Nio Fall Over 2% In Weak Hang Seng Opening: Why Investors Are Focused On Fed's Beige Book, ECB Move

Hong Kong stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 1.43%, as investors braced for the release of the U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book (a commentary on economic conditions) due later today and the European Central Bank's policy decision on Thursday.
Shares of Alibaba, Tencent, Nio and XPeng in Hong Kong lost more than 2% at the time of writing.

China is set to release its August trade data while investors will be watching out for Australian GDP numbers after the Reserve Bank of Australia hiked its policy rate by 50 bps yesterday.

Also Read: Oil Loses Steam: With OPEC+ Supply Cut Baked In, All Eyes Now On ECB, Fed Rate Decisions

Macro News: The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday issued a warning to Chinese companies asking them not to violate legal and audit requirements as they switch to auditors based in the U.S. to abide by a law that threatens to delist the businesses from American stock exchanges, reported the Wall Street Journal.

China’s gross domestic product will expand an average of 4.5% over this decade, according to a new forecast by Oxford Economics, Bloomberg reported.

Company News: Chinese tech giant Tencent is hiking its minority stake in Ubisoft Entertainment SA UBSFY in a deal that values the video game maker at more than 10 billion euros, Reuters reported.

Thailand’s WHA Group and Warren Buffett-backed BYD BYDDF are set to announce plans for an electric vehicle manufacturing facility in Thailand, according to Reuters.

Top Movers and Losers: ENN Energy Holdings Limited and Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited were the top losers on Hang Seng, having shed more than 2%, while Hengan International Group Company Limited and CLP Holdings Limited were the only gainers.

Global News: U.S. futures traded in the red on Wednesday morning Asia session. The Dow Jones futures were down 0.51%, while the Nasdaq futures shed 0.58%. The S&P 500 futures fell 0.56%.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia’s ASX 200 lost 1.54%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 1.12% while China’s Shanghai Composite index shed 0.32%. South Korea’s Kospi was down 1.52%.