Yahoo Finanza Asia Pacific Stocks Stumble; Alibaba’s Hong Kong Shares Jump
Most major Asia Pacific stock indexes are set to finish lower on Wednesday after reversing earlier gains. Shares in mainland China led losses among the regional indexes. Over in New Zealand, trading on the country’s stock exchange was halted earlier on Wednesday following a potential second cyber-attack, Reuters reported citing the New Zealand Stock Exchange.
In the cash market on Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index settled at 23290.86, down 5.91 or -0.03%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished at 25452.73, down 33.49 or -0.13% and South Korea’s KOSPI Index closed at 2369.32, up 2.59 or +0.11%.
In China, the Shanghai Index settled at 3329.74, down 43.84 or -1.30% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 finished at 6116.40, down 45.00 or -0.73%.
Ant Group Files for Hong Kong-Shanghai IPO
Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba, has given the first look at its financials ahead of its highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), in a document filed on Tuesday.
The financial technology powerhouse, which is still controlled by Alibaba founder Jack Ma, reported profit of 21.9 billion Chinese Yuan ($3.2 billion) on total revenues of 72.5 billion Yuan in the first half of the year, according to the exchange filing.
That represented a more than 1000% jump in profits from the same period a year ago, when the company raked in 1.9 billion Yuan. Revenues were also up significantly, climbing about 38% from the 52.5 billion Yuan the firm made in the first half of 2019.
The company has not yet disclosed details about the pricing of its shares. But one analyst previously told CNBC that its market valuation could be north of $200 billion, making it larger than some of America’s biggest banks.
New Zealand Stock Exchange NZX Hit by Probable Second Cyber Attack
Trading on New Zealand’s stock exchange was halted on Wednesday after a likely second cyber-attack, bourse operator NZX said.
NZX was working with its network service provider to fix further connectivity issues which appeared similar on Tuesday’s breakdown caused by a cyberattack, it said in a statement.
Wednesday’s disruption follows a halt in its cash market Tuesday evening after a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack impacted network connectivity. The attack was from offshore, the company said.
Australia Shares Slip on Rising Virus Death Toll
Australian shares snapped two straight sessions of gains on Wednesday as risk sentiment was hit by the rising coronavirus death toll in the country’s second-most populous state, although additional stimulus and hopes for a local vaccine capped losses.
Victoria recorded its second-deadliest COVID-19 daily death toll on Wednesday, while the state government’s intention to extend a state of emergency of another year also weighed on the market.
The benchmark stock index cut some of its losses after the government announced fresh stimulus by way of A$1 billion ($719.20 million) in defense spending to grow the military and support employment.
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This article was originally posted on FX Empire
