Chinese tech stocks slump after Beijing summons 34 companies in sign of heightened regulatory oversight

Name: China kicks off antitrust probes into Alibaba over alleged monopolistic practices
Uploaded: 2021-04-13T09:15:53.000Z
Duration: 1 min 26 s
Description: China kicks off antitrust probes into Alibaba over alleged monopolistic practices

Hang Seng Tech Index slumps by as much as 1.7 per cent in afternoon trading on news of summons

Meituan and JD.com tumble by more than 4 per cent, while Tencent and Alibaba surrender most of their strong gains

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The headquarters of Chinese e-commerce company JD.com. Photo: Kyodo

Zhang ShidongandMartin Choi

Published: 5:15pm, 13 Apr 2021Updated: 5:27pm, 13 Apr 2021

Chinese technology stocks trading in Hong Kong tumbled on speculation Beijing will double down on its scrutiny of the industry after slapping a record fine on Alibaba Group Holding.

The Hang Seng Tech Index slumped by as much as 1.7 per cent in afternoon trading on Tuesday on news that Beijing had summoned 34 big internet companies for a meeting. These companies, including Baidu, JD.com and Meituan, have been asked to start self-checks and to rectify anticompetition actions, according to the state-owned Xinhua News Agency.

Meituan, China’s biggest online booking and food delivery platform, tumbled 7.4 per cent and Tencent Holding slid 0.7 per cent, erasing an intraday gain of as much as 1.4 per cent. JD.com, the e-commerce platform that rivals Alibaba, sank 4.1 per cent. Alibaba closed with a 0.4 per cent gain, giving up a 4 per cent rally earlier in the day.

The State Administration for Market Regulation imposed a record 18.2 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) fine on Alibaba, the owner of this newspaper, over the weekend under the country’s antitrust law, stoking concerns more would be penalised.

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China kicks off antitrust probes into Alibaba over alleged monopolistic practices

“The market is not holding back from the [technology] sell-off, as more technology companies are becoming affected by the impact of the regulations,” said Castor Pang Wai-sun, head of research at investment services firm Core Pacific-Yamaichi. “We’re seeing a rectification of industry practices by Chinese regulators.”