U.S. President Donald Trump issued executive orders connected with WeChat and TikTok. Those orders would ban both of them from operating in the country if their owners won’t sell WeChat and TikTok. Consequently, Chinese-owned parent companies have 45 days to sell TikTok and WeChat. Otherwise, they won’t be able to operate in the country. Notably, mainland Chinese stocks saw losses on the day. Moreover, not only Chinese but other stocks in the Asia Pacific were mostly lower on Friday, as tensions continue to affect investor sentiment.
Shares of Korean Air Lines
Importantly, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led losses among the major markets in the region. Hang Seng index fell 1.6% to 24,531.62. Notably, shares of Chinese tech giants listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell on Friday.
Shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent dropped 5.04%. Tencent is the owner of WeChat. At the same time, shares of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation’s dropped 8.7%.
As stated above, mainland Chinese stocks fell on August 7. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.96% to approximately 3,354.04. Moreover, the Shenzhen Component dropped 1.548% to around 13,648.50.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.39% to close at 22,329.94. In the meantime, the Topix index declined by 0.2% to end its trading day at 1,546.74.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.62% to close at 6,004.80.
However, South Korea’s Kospi index defied the overall trend regionally, as it closed 0.39% higher at 2,351.67.
Let’s get back to Korean Air Lines. Shares of the country’s flag carrier jumped 5.52% on Friday. Interestingly, Korean Air Lines reported a net profit in the second quarter of the year, thanks to strong cargo demand. It is worth noting that, coronavirus pandemic had a tremendous impact on the global airline industry. It could take several years to recover from this crisis. However, even during the pandemic, the country’s flag carrier was able to adapt to the new reality.
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