Weak Stock Markets In Asia, But Alibaba Is Pulling After Jack Mas Return – E24

On Wednesday, some of the major stock indices in Asia rose slightly. The increase comes after China kept the key policy rate unchanged at 3.85 percent in January.

At the same time, Alibaba shares rose six percent after its founder, Jack Ma, reappeared in public on Wednesday.

It was earlier this month that various media outlets reported the “disappearance” of China’s richest man. This happened after the founder of Alibaba did not appear in public since October last year.

At the time, he was speaking at a conference in Shanghai, including to several of the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Do not miss

Here he came with fierce criticism of the Chinese authorities that regulate technological development in the country. However, on January 5, CNBC reported that Jack Ma is not missing, but “is in hiding.”

Now write, among other things Bloomberg that the billionaire appeared in public on Wednesday for the first time in a long time. This time during a digital conference for teachers on state television. Alibaba shares tumbled after the news broke.

Since the publication at the conference in October, the news agency estimates that Jack Mas’s fortune has fallen by more than $ 11 billion, equivalent to 93 billion crowns.

Absent from the talent show

Speculation about the billionaire’s disappearance began when Ma did not participate as a judge in the final broadcast of his own talent show, which was recorded in November.

Around the judging table in “Africa’s Business Heroes,” Ma was replaced in favor of Alibaba’s director Lucy Peng.

An image of Ma was also said to have been removed from the competition’s website, which aims to highlight entrepreneurs who can receive large cash prizes from the billionaire’s fund. It was also not part of a promotional video released in November.

“Due to a scheduling conflict, Mr. Ma was unable to be part of the judging panel at the Africa’s Business Heroes final earlier this year,” an Alibaba spokesman told the newspaper.

Listing stopped

The speech was posted on social media and, according to the Wall Street Journal, President Xi Jinping has reacted angrily.

Shortly after, the planned listing of Alibaba’s payment services company Ant Group was stopped.

The listing was set to become the largest in the world to date, worth more than NOK 300 billion. The list is still frozen, while Chinese authorities are now investigating Alibaba for what is suspected to be an illegal monopoly position.

As a result, Jack Mas’s fortunes have plummeted as Alibaba’s market capitalization has fallen 12 percent in the past month.

Weak rebound

This is how it looks on the largest stock exchanges in Asia and Australia in six hours from Norway:

• Nikkei 225 in Tokyo falls 0.58 percent
• Hang Seng in Hong Kong rises 0.16 percent
• Kospi in Seoul down just 0.07 percent
• Shanghai Composite Down 0.83%
• Shenzhen Composite rises 0.73 percent
• The FTSE Straits Times in Singapore falls 0.28 percent
• ASX 200 in Sydney rises 0.49 percent

On Tuesday, there was stronger growth for several of the indices at closing time. Much of the explanation lies in US expectations among investors around the incoming Biden administration.

– Must attack China’s practices

On Tuesday, Janet Yellen, the incoming US Treasury secretary, announced the largest country in Asia.

“China is obviously our most important strategic competitor,” said Yellen, who also asserted that the United States must strengthen the country’s own economy to compete with China, according to Bloomberg.

He also stressed that Biden was ready to use all the necessary tools against China’s “trade abuses”.

– We must attack China’s unfair and illegal practices, the former central bank governor said during the Senate hearing on Tuesday.

CNBC: Asian markets mixed