Alibaba, JD Buck The Trend As Hang Seng Extends Losses On Tighter COVID-19 Rules

Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA, Xpeng Inc. XPEV, Baidu Inc. BIDU and JD.Com Inc. JD rose in Hong Kong on Thursday, while Tencent Holdings Inc. TCEHY and Li Auto Inc. LI traded lower.

What’s Moving: Shares of Alibaba, Xpeng, Baidu and JD.Com traded higher in a range of 1% to 3%.

Shares of Tencent, the owner of the WeChat messaging app, fell almost 1% amid concerns about further regulations on the technology industry.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) has issued draft regulations requiring app developers that have the ability to influence public opinion to undergo a security review, CNBC reported.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index opened lower on Thursday and was down 0.3% at the time of writing. The index closed 1.6% lower on Wednesday. 

See Also: How To Buy Alibaba (BABA) Stock

Why Is It Moving? The Hang Seng Index extended losses after Hong Kong announced tightened restrictions to combat the surging COVID-19 cases in the city.

Fifteen types of businesses — including theme parks, fitness centers, bars and pubs — would be closed in Hong Kong for two weeks starting Friday, the South China Morning Post reported.

Walt Disney Co. DIS will temporarily close its Hong Kong Disneyland Park for two weeks from Jan. 7, it was reported on Wednesday, citing Reuters.

Shares of Chinese companies closed mostly lower in U.S. trading on Wednesday after the major averages in the U.S. ended sharply lower on concerns that the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than anticipated.

Alibaba’s shares closed 1.3% higher, while Nio’s shares ended lower by almost 5.4%.

Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. against Apple Inc. AAPL and Alphabet Inc. GOOG GOOGL as well as the CEOs of both companies for alleged antitrust violations.

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