Hong Kong sank on Friday on an otherwise mixed day for Asian markets, with Chinese ecommerce titan Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) tanking more than 10 percent after warning of a weaker outlook.
Alibaba on Thursday said that net profit tumbled 81 percent in the second quarter and revenue grew less than forecast as it was hit by slowing economic growth and a government crackdown on the technology sector.
The firm said income growth over the rest of the fiscal year fell short of expectations, adding that certain factors could further affect results including “changes in laws, regulations and [the] regulatory environment,” such as those related to privacy and data.
The 10.7 percent loss in Alibaba’s Hong Kong stock reflected a more than 11 percent fall in its New York shares and comes after a year that has seen the firm in the crosshairs of Beijing’s regulatory drive to rein in firms it thought were growing too powerful.
With Alibaba a big player on Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, the market on Friday dropped 1.07 percent to 25,049.97, and lost 1.1 percent on the week.
Other tech firms experienced smaller losses.
In Taiwan, the TAIEX closed down 23.06 points, or 0.13 percent, at 17,818.31, but rose 1.71 percent from a week earlier.
India’s SENSEX lost 0.62 percent to 59,636.01 and 0.47 percent for the week.
However, Tokyo climbed as the government announced plans to inject US$490 billion into the Japanese economy to boost recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.5 percent to 29,745.87, posting a weekly gain of 0.46 percent, while the broader TOPIX increased 0.44 percent to 2,044.53, rising 0.19 percent weekly.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.13 percent to 3,560.37, up 0.6 percent from a week earlier.
South Korea’s KOSPI grew 0.8 percent to 2,971.02, posting a weekly increase of 0.07 percent, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.23 percent at 7,396.5, but dropped 0.63 percent from a week earlier.
Additional reporting by staff writer with CNA
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San