(Bloomberg) — China tech shares extended declines into a third session to test fresh record lows, tracking a slump in their U.S.-listed peers on growing concerns over withdrawal from American exchanges.
The Hang Seng Tech Index, a gauge of mostly Chinese tech giants traded in Hong Kong, fell as much as 2.9% to the lowest since its launch in July last year. Trip.com Group Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. led the slide, each losing at least 8.3%. The companies both have U.S.-listed American depositary receipts.
The decline comes after the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index plunged 9.1% on Friday, the most since 2008, on concerns that Didi Global Inc.’s delisting would pressure other Chinese firms.
“The selloffs in the dual-listed stocks in both Hong Kong and the U.S. will continue given the U.S. regulation scrutiny,” Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific Yamaichi, said by phone. “It could be troublesome for them to submit accunting records to the U.S. government.”
A delisting from the U.S. stock market could raise the Chinese firms’ cost of capital. Didi’s decision to pull from the New York Stock Exchange just five months after its initial public offering also intensified investor worry over the uncertainty overshadowing China’s biggest listed companies as President Xi Jinping tightens his grip on the data-rich private sector and tries to make China’s economy more equitable.
U.S. institutional investors currently own around $700 billion of Chinese stocks across A shares, H shares, and ADRs. U.S. mutual funds would take up to two months to unwind their holdings in U.S.- or Hong Kong-listed Chinese stocks, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts including Kinger Lau wrote in a note.
The U.S. market has offered higher valuation multiples than Hong Kong for Chinese companies seeking to go public, thanks to liquidity and investor composition reasons, they added.
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