Nio, other EV makers also hit as antitrust guidelines send China’s stock market lower, to buck global market rally
Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. fell Wednesday, as did the stocks of most other China-based digital platform companies, after the country’s market regulators drafted anti-monopoly guidelines targeting the group.
The negative effect of the guidelines on investor sentiment wasn’t limited to internet stocks, however, as fear of more government control led to a broad selloff in China’s stock market, bucking the rally seen in global markets. Read Europe Markets and Market Snapshot.
The guidelines cover a range of monopolistic practices, including the abuse of dominant market positions, restricting merchants from working with rival platforms and predatory pricing, as The Wall Street Journal reported.
“We view the guidelines as an attempt to check the power of large tech platforms, including the largely ecommerce marketplaces,” wrote analyst Aaron Kessler at Raymond James in a note to clients.
Alibaba’s stock BABA, -0.33% slumped as much as 3.6% premarket, but pared losses to be down 0.8% ahead of Wednesday’s open. The decline comes on the day of Alibaba’s big Singles Day shopping event, on 11/11.
Raymond James’ Kessler recommended buying Alibaba’s stock on a pullback, as the guidelines weren’t likely to hurt the ecommerce giant, and may even help it.
“At this point, we do not believe the antitrust guidelines would have any material impact on Alibaba revenues,” Kessler wrote. “It could also serve to limit new entrants from aggressively pricing to gain market share, which could be viewed as a positive for [Alibaba].”
Among other China-based technology companies, the U.S.-listed shares of Tencent Holdings Ltd. TCEHY, -0.48% 700, 5.44% slid 2.4% and Pinduoduo Inc. PDD, +8.11% lost 0.6%. JD.com Inc.’s stock JD, +3.44% eased 0.1%, erasing almost all of an earlier premarket loss of as much as 3.8%.
The iShares MSCI China exchange-traded fund MCHI fell 0.6% and the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB, +1.75% declined 0.5% ahead of the open, while futures YM00 for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA rallied 202 points, or 0.7%. Meanwhile, the STOXX Europe 600 Index SXXP, +1.07% rallied 1.0%.
The most-active stock of a China-based company was that of electric vehicle maker Nio Inc. NIO, +3.68%, which slumped 3.6%, after shedding 5.6% on Tuesday.
Among other China-based EV makers, shares of XPeng Inc. XPEV, +1.91% gave up 2.5% and Li Auto Inc. LI, -1.07% dropped 3.6%.