On the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ithe value of Alibaba shares is at its lowest point since listing. At the close of the Asian stock exchanges, the stock recorded a loss of 3% to 111,4 Hong Kong dollars, the lowest value ever reached since the placement which took place in November 2019. In the Wall Street pre-market, the shares dropped by 4,3 % to $113,95.
The new squeeze on Ant
Once again, the sales were triggered by the news from Beijing, with the Chinese government giving orders to state-owned companies and banks to review their relationship with Ant, Alibaba's payments subsidiary.
As revealed by Bloomberg, both the large state-owned giants and the government-controlled banks will have to carry out checks on their financial exposure and on other existing links with Ant Group. The request, Reuters points out, arrived last week. It is not yet clear what triggered yet another crackdown on the financial giant controlled by Jack Ma, nor if the companies have been assigned a deadline to present the information deriving from the investigations. Even less is known about any actions that will be taken by the Beijing authorities once the checks are completed.
The crackdown by the Chinese authorities
In this context it should be remembered that Ant has been the subject of a major restructuring in order to comply with the new Chinese regulation. In 2020 the company should have landed on the Beijing Stock Exchange, but the maxi 37 billion dollar IPO was canceled precisely because of the government tightening.
The new move also comes at a time when China's tech sector has been undergoing a massive regulatory crackdown aimed at keeping financial risks under control, with investors hoping that the start of the new year would bring with it an easing of pressure. The fear, at this point, is that the government's intentions are to continue to tighten the taps, putting Chinese big tech companies in even more difficulty.
