Alibaba and Tencent stock prices fell in Hong Kong on Thursday following media reports that US President, Donald Trump’s administration plans to continue with its planned ban on Americans investing in them.
Alibaba’s share price slipped by over 4 percent, while Tencent lost 3.3 percent value in morning trade after the Wall Street Journal stated that officials in multiple US government departments were carrying out an assessment of the impact of an investment ban.
This developing situation increases the pressure already being faced by Alibaba with the e-commerce giant being probed by regulators for offenses bordering on monopoly. while its fintech giant Ant Group was ordered to drastically change its business model.
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The moves come as the government puts the squeeze on the once unbridled empire of tech tycoon Jack Ma.
The Wall Street Journal report came the same day the New York Stock Exchange reversed course once again and said it would delist three Chinese telecom equities from trading owing to new US government guidance.
Wednesday’s announcement capped a dizzying few days of confusing flip-flopping in which the stock exchange announced the removal at the weekend before making a U-turn on Monday, and then saying it would go ahead once more Wednesday.
The latest decision came after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin disagreed with Monday’s reversal.
The three state-owned telecom giants plunged, with China Unicom shedding nearly eight percent while China Telecom was down seven percent and China Mobile slipped 5.7 percent.
Trump issued an executive order in November banning Americans from investing in Chinese companies deemed to be supplying or supporting the country’s military and security apparatus, earning a sharp rebuke from Beijing.
On Tuesday night he signed an executive order banning transactions involving Alipay, WeChat Pay and other apps linked to Chinese companies, drawing strong criticism from Beijing.
Alipay is owned by Alibaba and WeChat is owned by Tencent.
