Alibaba Down 2%, Nio Falls Over 3%: Hang Seng Treads Water On Weak Wall Street Cues Over Rate-Hike Worries

Hong Kong shares opened lower on Tuesday, following an overnight decline in U.S. markets after some key economic data triggered fears of the Federal Reserve continuing to raise interest rates and causing a recession.

Although the benchmark Hang Seng was marginally higher, EV stocks such as Nio and Xpeng fell over 3% in morning trade, while Alibaba shares fell more than 1.5%.

“Our expectation is that rates will rise another 100bp by the end of Q1 next year and stay at 5.0% throughout 2023. The risks to this expectation lie to the topside,” ANZ Research wrote about U.S. interest rates.

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Macro News: China is likely to announce 10 new COVID-19 easing measures as early as Wednesday, Reuters reported, citing sources.

China’s Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) declined to 46.7 from 48.4, recording the third monthly contraction in a row, reported the South China Morning Post.

Company News: Apple Inc AAPL-supplier Foxconn Technology Co Ltd FXCOF reportedly expects to return to 100% production levels around late December to early January.

NIO's battery swap station network has finished initial coverage of a major city cluster in northwest China, reported CnEVPost.

Top Gainers and Losers: Alibaba Health Information Technology Limited and Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited were the top gainers among Hang Seng constituents, having risen over 4% and 2%, respectively. Alibaba Group Holding Limited and JD.com, Inc are the top losers, having shed over 3% and 2%, respectively.

Global News: U.S. futures traded in the green on Friday morning Asia session. The Dow Jones futures gained 0.21% while the Nasdaq futures rose 0.23%. The S&P 500 futures were trading higher by 0.2%.

Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, Australia’s ASX 200 was down 0.11%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 traded 0.22% higher while China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.15%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.22%.

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