Alibaba Snaps Winning Streak, Nio, EV Peers Slip: What's Dragging Hong Kong Stocks Today

Honk Kong stocks were trading lower early on Thursday, with most U.S.-listed Chinese tech and electric vehicle shares slipping into the red, despite positive cues from global markets.

Tech Retreat:  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA fell after three straight sessions of gains. The stock recently picked up momentum amid upbeat analyst views about the company's June-quarter earnings and on hopes of easing regulatory crackdowns in China.

JD.com Inc. JD fell again on Thursday, while technology and entertainment conglomerate Tencent Holdings Ltd TCEHY ticked up.

Related Link: Why Alibaba, Other Chinese Firms Could Seek Shifting Primary Listings to Hong Kong 

EV Charge Low: Electric vehicle stocks fell, with Nio, Inc. NIO leading losses with a 4% drop, a day after its Nio Power Day 2022, where it announced a 500-kilowatt ultra-fast charging pile and offered a glimpse into its third-generation battery swap station.

XPeng, Inc. XPEV and Li Auto, Inc. LI lost over 1%, while Warren Buffett-backed BYD Co Ltd BYDDY bucked the downtrend.

Macro Factors: The Hang Seng Index opened Thursday's session lower and was down 0.42% at 21,495.44 at press time. Energy, financial and property stocks were seeing mixed sentiment.

China's central bank is contemplating mopping up liquidity from the system, towing in line with other global central banks, according to reports.

Overseas Cues: The U.S. market closed modestly higher overnight, drawing encouragement from the FOMC minutes that the Federal Reserve is committed to containing inflation.

The rest of Asia was a sea of green on Thursday, led by the Japanese, Taiwanese and South Korean markets.

European stocks rebounded on Wednesday, as bargain hunters lapped up beaten-down stocks, rest assured that the Fed will act to rein in inflation.

Crude oil futures have resumed the uptrend after two days of losses.

Photo by Natanael Ginting on Shutterstock