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Last week was a volatile one for the Asia Pacific (APAC) equity markets. On one hand, the equities across the region tried to follow the cues of Wall Street, while, on the other hand, domestic woes weighed heavy.
The primary woes, that impacted the markets last week, were the resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the APAC region, and fears of crackdown on the Chinese companies.
However, many were anticipating a strong beginning to this week. But that was not to be. Over the weekend, China’s anti-trust regulator decided to crack down on the nation’s most valuable company Tencent Holdings Ltd – a move that is sending markets in the region in a tailspin today.
Here is how the APAC markets are doing today:
- China: Chinese stocks are in deep red, with tech shares being worst affected in the mayhem following continued purge by the communist government. The Shanghai Composite was down 1.61%, while the Shenzhen Component was down 1.64% in the morning. The China A50 index witnessed a bloodbath, as it crashed by over 3% in the morning trade.
- Hong Kong: In the Chinese autonomous region of Hong Kong, which has most of the Chinese tech companies listed, the markets plummeted. Tencent tanked 4.71% in the Monday morning trade, as government’s whip spooked investors. Alibaba also dropped 4% while Meituan crashed 4.98%. The Hang Seng Tech index plunged 4.57% in the morning trade. In the broader market, the Hang Seng Index crashed by 2.39%.
- Japan: The far eastern market seemed to be immune to the events transpiring in its neighbourhood, as Japanese markets opened after a four-day long weekend. The benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.41% in Monday morning trade while the Topix index soared 1.32%. The Japanese markets, according to analysts, are taking cue from Wall Street.
- Australia: The ASX200 jumped 0.3% at the open of the trade to hit a new life high of 7,417 points – as it surpassed the previous trading high reached in June. The rally was led by the gains in the mining sector in Australia. However, later on, more than half of these gains eroded as the ASX200 was trading near the flatline – up .06%.
- Others: In South Korea, the KOSPI is down 0.25%, while in Taipei, the Taiwan Weighted Index is down 0.35%. In Bangkok, the SET index is down 0.47%.
