Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded mostly lower with the Hang Seng Index falling as Chinese technology stocks saw sharp losses after Tencent announced to slash its over $20-billion stake in Meituan
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 forfeited 97.73 points, or 0.4%, to 27,930.57, as the country reported a trade deficit of $15.5 billion, bigger than forecasted in a Reuters poll.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 210.82 points, or 1.2%, to 18,045.66.
Hong Kong-listed shares of NetEase plunged 13% after Blizzard Entertainment, a sub-unit of Activision Blizzard, said it would suspend its China gaming services, citing expiring license agreements with NetEase.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Meituan fell more than 6% in the first hour of trade after Tencent said it would offload 958.1 million shares in the form of a special dividend to shareholders.
Tencent said the tranche of shares is roughly 90.9% of its stake in the company and 15.5% of total shares Meituan has issued as of Oct. 31.
Tencent said the stake was worth about 159 billion Hong Kong dollars (roughly $20.32 billion) as of the Tuesday close.
Australian markets gained as the nation’s unemployment numbers came in better than expected.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dipped 15.73 points, or 0.4%, to 3,818.66.
In Taiwan, the Taiex handed over 2.12 points to 14,535.23.
In Korea, the Kospi index faltered 34.55 points, or 1.4%, to 2,442.90.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 19.87 points, or 0.6%, to 3,286.66.
In Australia, the ASX 200 moved up 13.41 points, or 0.2%, to 7,135.65.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 63.97 points, or 0.6%, to 11,294.52.
