Chinese tech stocks mostly rise as Meituan jumps more than 11% in mixed Asia trading

Mon Mar 28 2022
Mark Cooper (3174 articles)
Chinese tech stocks mostly rise as Meituan jumps more than 11% in mixed Asia trading

Shares in Chinese tech firms mostly rose in mixed Asia-Pacific trading on Monday, with oil prices falling more than 3%.

By the Hong Kong market close on Monday, shares of Meituan soared 11.56% while Tencent gained 2.81%.

Meituan on Friday posted better-than-expected revenue for the last three months of 2021. The company’s revenue for the fourth quarter came in at 49.52 billion yuan ($7.78 billion), above mean analyst expectations for a 49.2 billion yuan print, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon.

The Hang Seng Tech index rose 2.62% to 4,491.01. Some Chinese tech stocks, however, slipped: JD.com dropped 1.75% while SenseTime shed 1.9%.

“Even if you look now, where we see very significant and sharp falls so that valuations now are at much more reasonable levels, I think it’s still quite difficult for investors … to really build the courage to go back in at these levels,” Mark Konyn, group chief investment officer at AIA, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday.

Data released over the weekend showed Chinese industrial profits grew in the first two months of the year. Profits at China’s industrial firms rose 5.0% for the January to February period as compared with a year earlier, according to data released Sunday.

Investors have been watching for clues on policy easing from Chinese authorities amid concerns over the outlook for the economic powerhouse as it grapples with issues such as its worst Covid outbreak since the initial height of the pandemic in early 2020. On Monday, China’s biggest city Shanghai began a two-stage lockdown.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.73% to close at 27,943.89 while the Topix index ticked 0.41% lower to 1,973.37. South Korea’s Kospi was little changed on the day at 2,729.56.

Tags China, Japan, Nikkei
Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper

Mark Cooper is Political / Stock Market Correspondent. He has been covering Global Stock Markets for more than 6 years.