Meituan Shares Surged after it was Hit with a $534 M Fine

On Monday, shares of Meituan surged after Chinese regulators levied the firm with a $534.00 million antitrust fine. 

Accordingly, it rallied 9.22% or 3.03 points to $35.93 per share, following its hike of 2.07% last Friday. 

Meituan provides an e-commerce platform that operates through food delivery, in-store, and hotel & travel segments. 

Currently, it stands with a market capitalization of $201.73 billion and shares outstanding of $788.10 million. 

Last Friday, authorities explained that Meituan abused its market dominance, forcing merchants to sign exclusive cooperation agreements.

Additionally, they slapped a charge that is equivalent to the 3.00% revenue of the business. 

Meanwhile, the end of the five-month antitrust probe reflected a sign of relief to investors as they expected a billion-dollar fine. 

Also, the sanction came in lower than the $2.80 billion penalties imposed on Alibaba, which is 4.00% of its 2019 revenue.

The prolonged Beijing tech scrutiny has already wiped billions of dollars off its domestic technological companies.

Currently, market participants speculated that the antitrust tech crackdown would conclude soon. 

In addition, experts mentioned that policy risks in the market have diminished. 

Accordingly, the news from the food delivery giant led Chinese tech stocks to higher.

For instance, the highly valued e-commerce firm Alibaba soared 9.39% or 1.88 points to $21.86 per share. 

Then, Tencent, the world’s largest video game business by revenue, boosted 3.03% or 1.88 points to $63.78 per share.

At the same time, JD.com, China’s largest retailer, hiked 5.06% or 1.93 points to $39.99 per share. 

Opposing the trend, consumer electronics company Lenovo tumbled 13.17% or 0.15 points to $0.98 per share. 

Asia-Pacific Market Mixed as Meituan Surged

Furthermore, China’s Shanghai Composite index increased 0.36% or 13.01 points to $3,605.17 per share. 

Inversely, the Shenzhen Component index plummeted 0.02% or 2.74 points to $14,411.42 per share. 

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index climbed 2.15% or 534.87 points to $25,372.72 per share, reflecting the surge of Meituan.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index rose 1.41% or 395.08 points to $28,444.02 per share. 

Correspondingly, the TOPIX index edged up 1.44% or 28.16 points to $1,990.01 per share. 

Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index slashed 0.28% or 20.30 points to $7,299.80 per share. 

Likewise, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index plunged 0.51% or 67.23 points to $13,019.37 per share.

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