Alibaba shares rise 6%, pushing Hong Kong shares higher; Asian markets are mostly lower

Shares of Chinese tech giant Alibaba rose nearly 6% after founder Jack Ma bought $50 million worth of its Hong Kong stock in the fourth quarter.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported that along with Alibaba Chairman Joe Tsai, he also bought $151 million worth of Alibaba shares traded in the US in the fourth quarter via Blue Pool’s family investment vehicle. Management.

According to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on January 2, Alibaba bought back $9.5 billion of its Hong Kong shares during 2023, resulting in a decline of about 3.3% of its shares.

Private sector activity in Japan expanded in January at its fastest pace since September, according to preliminary data from Bank au Jibun.

Japan’s composite PMI came in at 51.1, up from 50.0 in December. The bank said the increase was led by service providers, with the services sector PMI accelerating to 52.7 from 51.5.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

The manufacturing PMI registered a smaller contraction in January, coming to 47.4 from 46.8.

– Lim Hui Ji

Japan’s exports grew 9.8% year-on-year in December, reversing a 0.2% decline the previous month and beating economists polled by Reuters’ expectations for a 9.1% rise.

Imports into the world’s third-largest economy fell by 6.8% year-on-year in December, a smaller contraction compared to an 11.9% decline in November, but more severe than the Reuters poll’s forecast of 5.3%.

As such, Japan’s trade balance for December reached a surplus of $62.1 billion, compared to a deficit of $780.4 billion in November.

For the whole of 2023, Japan’s total exports rose 2.8% year-on-year to 100.89 trillion yen, while imports fell 7% in the same period to 110.17 trillion yen.

– Lim Hui Ji

Australian factory activity expanded for the first time in 11 months, according to preliminary data from Juno Bank.

The country’s manufacturing PMI for January came in at 50.3, up from December’s figure of 47.6.

Services sector activity contracted at a slower pace, with the services PMI reaching 47.9 compared to 47.1 in December.

Overall, business activity in Australia also saw a slower contraction, with the composite PMI at 48.1 versus 46.9 in December.

A PMI reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

– Lim Hui Ji

The share price of a Swiss-listed auto parts manufacturer could rise by more than 70% in the next year, according to Vontobel.

The company manufactures lightweight automotive components for automakers such as BMW, Ford, Renault, Mercedes, General Motors and Volvo.

Vontobel expects profit margins and free cash flow at the company to rise.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

The Dow Jones fell more than 100 points in Tuesday’s session as investors analyzed earnings reports from a few members of the index.

3M fell below the blue-chip average with a decline of more than 11%, on track to post its third-largest loss in history and its worst day since April 2019. The sell-off came after issuing disappointing full-year and first-quarter guidance.

Johnson & Johnson also pulled the index lower, falling 1.5% despite beating Wall Street expectations on both lines in the fourth quarter.

But the losses were mitigated by gains on the back of other members’ reports. Verizon led the index higher with gains of more than 5% after a better-than-expected report. Procter & Gamble followed, up more than 4% as investors paid attention to earnings per share that were better than analysts expected.

Electric car makers like Tesla and BYD have been making headlines over the past few weeks, but Goldman Sachs is now watching a corner of the market.

This is the battery sector – which includes lithium and nickel electrolyte batteries that are key inputs into the manufacturing of electric vehicles.

The investment bank noted that the sector – and stocks – appear attractive amid increased reliance on electric vehicles and falling battery prices.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Amala Balakrishner

These are some of the most moving stocks during Tuesday’s session:

Read the full list of traded stocks here.

-Samantha Sobin

Oil prices were largely stable on Tuesday, as traders tried to make sense of mixed signals in the Middle East and threats to crude oil supplies.

The March West Texas Intermediate contract rose 21 cents, or 0.28%, to trade at $74.97 a barrel on Tuesday, while the Brent crude contract rose 5 cents, or 0.06%, to trade at $80.11. US crude fell more than 2% earlier in the trading session.

Israel proposed a two-month halt to the fighting in Gaza in exchange for the release of the remaining hostages, according to NBC News. But Hamas rejected the offer, according to the Associated Press.

Oil prices rose about 2 percent on Monday due to potential threats to crude supplies. Ukrainian drones reportedly bombed a major Russian gas station on the Baltic Sea over the weekend, and the US and Britain also launched renewed air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen on Monday.

Oil production in the United States was also affected by the cold weather, with production in North Dakota down by about 400,000 barrels per day as of Friday. The outage in the United States was eased by Libya’s resumption of production at the Sharara oil field, which has a capacity of 300,000 barrels per day.

-Spencer Kimball