BABA, BIDU, JD To Dip In New York Today? Hang Seng Sinks As US–Iran Conflict Rattles Chinese Tech

Monday’s moves, triggered by a significant military escalation between the U.S. and Iran, added to the sharp selloff in Chinese tech stocks in recent months.

• BABA and BIDU declined by over 4% in Hong Kong on Monday.
• The U.S.’s offensive in Iran and the killing of its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have the U.S. and Asian markets lower, and oil and gold prices up.
• On Stocktwits, retail investors' sentiment was upbeat for BABA and BIDU.

Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index fell by over 2% on Monday, following the weekend military escalation between the U.S. and Iran, which killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The index, dominated by Chinese tech and financial companies, fell to its lowest level this year. Sentiment turned negative after U.S. futures slid following President Donald Trump’s pledge to “avenge” the deaths of three service members and to sustain combat operations in Iran.

Chinese Stocks Decline

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba Group dropped 4.1%. Baidu shares declined by a similar rate, while JD and Tencent shares declined 2.8% and 1%, respectively. The move is likely to trigger reactions when the U.S.-listed shares begin trading later today.

Electric vehicle firms declined as well, after posting another month of sharp sales decline. BYD and Xiaomi dropped around 5.2%, and Geely Automobile, China’s second largest EV company, declined 2.5%.

BYD, now the world’s biggest EV seller, overtaking Tesla, said its sales fell 41% year over year in February. Xpeng’s sales fell 50%, while those of Geely Automobile fell 11%.

Retail Inventors Ponder What Lies Ahead 

Retail investors on Stocktwits speculated how the rising geopolitical tensions would affect Chinese tech stocks, which had become an investor favourite after strong AI-driven rallies in many of them.

“$BABA, $BIDU As expected, Hang Seng had to plunge 3x more than U.S. indexes,” a user said. 

Another said: “$BABA can get ugly real quick if Russian and China start threatening. Who’s feeling sub $120?”

Notably, BABA and BIDU have been on an aggressive downward trajectory. Alibaba shares have fallen about 20% since their recent peak in late January and are down about 25% from their all-time high in early October. Baidu shares have declined about 25% from their all-time high on Jan. 22.

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘extremely bullish’ for BABA, ‘bullish’ for BIDU, and ‘neutral’ for JD.com.

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