Hong Kong stocks slip as US expands its Internet security campaign to ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps; Tencent slides
- US secretary of state blasts ‘untrusted’ Chinese-owned apps
- Market cap of China’s stock market is at US$9.74 trillion – the highest since the 2015 meltdown
Hong Kong stocks slipped Thursday, with index heavyweight Tencent declining on fears its WeChat social media app could be swept up into the US “clean network” campaign claiming Chinese-made technology poses security risks.
Overnight, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on US app stores to remove “untrusted” Chinese-owned apps, including WeChat and TikTok. This expanded the US charge against Huawei and other Chinese tech giants over a mix of security and human rights abuse claims.
Tencent fell as much as 3.1 per cent, before narrowing its loss to 1 per cent at the close.
Other new economy stocks were mixed. Alibaba, the e-commerce giant and owner of the South China Morning Post, recouped early losses and gained 0.5 per cent, while food delivery giant Meituan Dianping rose 1.3 per cent.
The Hang Seng Index narrowed its decline to 0.7 per cent to 24,930.58 from a 1.8 per cent drop, snapping a two-session winning streak.
“Mike Pompeo announced a five-pronged ‘clean network’ aimed at curbing potential national security risks from China. People think that WeChat will be the next target very soon,” said Alan Li, portfolio manager at Atta Capital.
