Chinese Stocks Fall and Macau Casinos Close Amid COVID-19 Threat

With a new threat of COVID-19 restrictions in China and the government’s renewed regulations against large technology companies, Chinese stocks fell last July 11, 2022.

For the first time since February 2020, casinos in the famous gambling hubs of Macau were told to shut down due to an outbreak of COVID-19 and in turn, shares of operating companies were affected.

Stocks for Chinese tech companies also went down after news of China’s antitrust regulators have enforced new fines on A-list companies. This in turn has fueled fears in investors about the Chinese government’s pressure on these large internet companies.

Last Sunday, several Chinese technology companies were fined by the State Administration for Market Regulation on accounts of violation of anti-monopoly rules on the disclosure of transactions.  A list of 28 acquisitions and mergers including known companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, Lenovo, Sina Weibo, Ping An Health, and Bilibili was released by the watchdog and has been noted to not yet been reported to the government.

Then last Monday in Hong Kong, shares of Alibaba went down by 5.8%, Tencent’s down by 2.9%, and the Hang Seng Tech Index went down to around 4%.

These dips in the Hong Kong market are only a small part of the bigger losses in the Chinese stock market. China’s Shanghai Composite Index went down by 1.3% while the Hang Send Index went down by 2.8%.

Macau casino stocks also suffered after the city government imposed a lockdown on the majority of establishments including bars, cinemas, and public swimming pools.

Source: CNN Philippines