Chinese tech stocks fall; property developer Soho China plunges 36% as deal falls through
The Financial Times reported that Beijing wants to break up Ant Group's Alipay and force the creation of a separate loans app.
MikeTyes
SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific largely slipped in Monday morning trade, with stocks in Hong Kong leading losses.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba dropped 3.04% following a Financial Times report that Beijing wants to break up Ant Group's Alipay and force the creation of a separate loans app.
Other Chinese tech stocks also declined, with Tencent falling 2.33% while Meituan slipped 3.39%. The Hang Seng Tech index dropped 1.74%.
Chinese property developer Soho China plunged 36% in the morning after a takeover deal by Blackstone Group fell through. Soho China said in a filing on Friday that Blackstone has decided not to go through with its $3 billion bid to buy the developer.
Hong Kong's broader Hang Seng index dropped 1.5%. Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai composite shedding 0.15% while the Shenzhen component declined 0.156%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.25% lower while the Topix index shed 0.16%.
Shares of automakers Toyota and Honda fell 2.37% and 1.84% respectively. The two firms criticized a U.S. House electric vehicle tax plan that would benefit Detroit's Big Three automakers, according to a Reuters report.
South Korea's Kospi dipped 0.22%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia edged 0.14% higher.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.74% lower.
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Looking ahead for the week, the U.S. consumer price index for August is set to be out on Tuesday, while retail sales figures stateside are expected Thursday. A slew of Chinese economic data, including retail sales and industrial production for August, is also set to be out on Thursday.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.665 after a recent decline from above 92.7.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.95 per dollar, stronger than levels around 110.4 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7358 following its slide last week from above $0.744.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.7% to $73.43 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.76% to $70.25 per barrel.
