Asia-Pacific stocks mixed; Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong drop after Didi delisting plans

Key Points

• Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed in Friday morning trade.
• Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong plunged after ride-hailing giant Didi announced Friday on social media platform Weibo that it will begin taking steps to delist from the New York Stock Exchange.
• Stocks around the world have been swinging wildly between gains and losses for much of this week as uncertainty remains around the economic impact of the recently discovered omicron variant.

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday morning trade following days of turbulent trading this week as investors continue to monitor the situation surrounding the omicron Covid variant.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led losses, falling 1.17%.

Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong plunged after ride-hailing giant Didi announced Friday on social media platform Weibo that it will begin taking steps to delist from the New York Stock Exchange — less than six months after it made its debut stateside. The company also said in the statement that it will pursue a listing in Hong Kong.

Shares of Tencent in Hong Kong fell 2.11% while Alibaba dropped 3.02% and Meituan slipped 2.58%. The Hang Seng Tech index declined 2.06%.

Mainland Chinese stocks edged higher, with the Shanghai composite rising 0.2% while the Shenzhen component climbed 0.261%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.27% while the Topix index gained 0.51%. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.41%.

Shares in Australia were muted as the S&P/ASX 200 was largely flat.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.7% lower.

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Shares on Wall Street saw a sharp rebound overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average surging 617.75 points to 34,639.79 while the S&P 500 gained 1.42% to 4,577.10. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.83% to 15,381.32.

Stocks around the world have been swinging wildly between gains and losses for much of this week as uncertainty remains around the economic impact of the recently discovered omicron variant. As more cases of omicron are being detected globally, experts say the new strain had likely already been circulating for some time.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	27692.34	-61.03	-0.22
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	23542.88	-246.05	-1.03
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	7214.7	-10.5	-0.15
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	3578.64	4.81	0.13
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2945.92	0.65	0.02
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	9872.05	-88.66	-0.89

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.192 after a recent recovery from below 96.

The Japanese yen traded at 113.04 per dollar, still stronger than levels above 113.4 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar was at $0.707, off levels above $0.715 seen earlier in the week.

Oil prices were muted in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down about 0.1% to $69.61 per barrel. U.S. crude futures were flat at $66.50 per barrel.

Source : CNBC