HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong shares weakened on Monday as a surprise share placement by tech major Alibaba rekindled concerns about AI spending and weighed on the tech sector.
The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.6 percent to 3,882.01 points while the blue-chip CSI 300 Index fell 1.2 percent, with both benchmarks ending at their lowest levels in three weeks.
Tech sectors led the decline, with the start-up board ChiNext Composite Index down 3.2 percent and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 Index down 3.1 percent.
Among other major losers, the CSI AI Index fell 4.4 percent and the CSI Semiconductor Index lost 1.7 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index lost 1.9 percent, and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 3.6 percent. The AI sector index tumbled more than 5 percent.
Shares of market heavyweight Alibaba sank as much as 10.5 percent to a one-month low after it announced a HKD80 billion (USD10.2 billion) share placement at an 8.4 percent discount to its Friday close, in the city’s largest-ever primary follow-on offering to fund its AI-related development.
“This placement is pretty surprising to the market, in terms of both its size and the discount,” said Jason Chan, strategist at Bank of East Asia.
There will be some dilution pressure on the stock, and markets will again question the amount of returns that the fierce AI competition can generate, he added.
Around the region, share markets were hesitant and oil prices eased as investors awaited details of threatened US sanctions on Iran.
The US threatened Iran with what it called “the greatest financial offensive ever marshalled” as it prepared to roll out economic sanctions on Monday that target Iran’s trade partners.
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