China’s stock market traded lower once again on August 20, despite Beijing’s efforts to calm markets.
China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite was 1.5% down to 3,735.92 points.
The negative open comes after the index had seen strong volatility since the beginning of the week.
Traders appeared not to respond to efforts by the central bank to provide more liquidity to stabilize markets.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was also pulled lower, down 1.6% to 22,794.63 points.
Shares across the rest of Asia also fell on August 20 over worries about China’s slowing growth and volatile equities.
Meanwhile, it was a weak lead from Wall Street overnight where oil companies saw sharp declines after another drop in the price of crude.
The minutes from the July meeting of the Federal Reserve also failed to inspire markets.
The minutes showed policymakers thought conditions for a US rate rise “were approaching”, but there remained worries over inflation and the strength of the global economy.
The region’s largest stock market, Japan, closed down.
Nikkei 225 index ended day down 0.9% at 20,033.52 points.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index finished with a sharp drop of 1.7% to 5,290.50 points.
Shares in the Australian flagship carrier Qantas dropped by more than 6% despite the airline reporting a return to full-year profit earlier in the day.
In South Korea, the benchmark Kospi index finished 1.3% down at 1,914.55 points.
China’s biggest e-commerce group Alibaba has bought an 18% stake in Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like service, as it looks to tap into the fast-growing social media sector.
Alibaba will pay $586 million for the stake, valuing Weibo at over $3.2 billion.
The deal is expected to help Alibaba drive traffic from Weibo, which has more than 500 million users, to its e-commerce sites such as Taobao.
It will also help generate additional advertising revenue for Weibo.
According to the two firms, the partnership will bring in $380 million more in advertising and social commerce services revenue for Weibo over the next three years.
China’s biggest e-commerce group Alibaba has bought an 18 percent stake in Weibo, China’s largest Twitter-like service
“We believe that this strategic alliance helps to create a stronger Weibo,” said Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba.
“It affirms our view of the vitality and importance of social media in unleashing value in e-commerce activities.”
China has become the world’s biggest internet market and it is expected to grow even further in the coming years as more people get access to the internet.
Alibaba, was one of the early pioneers in the sector in China and has benefited from this boom.
It offers various services, including Alibaba.com which connects businesses across the globe to Chinese manufacturers. It also runs online shopping sites for retail consumers in China as well as an online payment service Alipay.
Driven by its success, the firm has been looking to increase its dominance in the Chinese market.
Meanwhile, social media sites such as Weibo have seen tremendous growth in China in recent times and have become a powerful medium for consumers.
The two companies said their partnership will help them grow their respective businesses and that they will “cooperate in the areas of user account connectivity, data exchange, online payment and online marketing, among other things”.
“Weibo and Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms are natural partners,” said Charles Chao, chairman SINA, the parent firm of Weibo.
“Together we provide a unique proposition not only to existing online merchants, but also to individuals or businesses, who wish to offer products and services on social networking platform to take advantage of the traffic shift toward social and mobile internet.”
According to the deal, Alibaba will have the right to increase its ownership in Weibo to 30% at a mutually agreed valuation “within a certain period of time in the future”.
This website has updated its privacy policy in compliance with EU GDPR 2016/679. Please read this to review the updates about which personal data we collect on our site. By continuing to use this site, you are agreeing to our updated policy. AcceptRejectRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
