Asia-Pacific stocks mostly fall; tech stocks are under pressure between rising U.S. bond yields

January 6, 2021: -Shares in Asia-Pacific were broadly lower on Wednesday, as technology stocks in the region came under pressure amid rising U.S. bond yields.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Tencent fell 4.31% on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Chinese tech giant announced that it would be divesting 2.6% of its equity interest in Sea Limited.

Shares of other Chinese tech firms listed in the city also declined, with Meituan down 11.16% while Kuaishou plunged 7.53%. The Hang Seng Tech index plummeted 4.63% to 5,323.47.

China’s top market regulator announced Wednesday that it had fined Alibaba, Bilibili, and Tencent units for improper reporting of deals. The country’s cyberspace regulator also announced Wednesday draft rules affecting mobile apps, including a security review requirement for those with functions that could sway public opinion.

Elsewhere in the region, South Korea’s Samsung Electronics dropped 1.65%, while Kakao fell 5.38%. In Australia, shares of Afterpay slipped 4.01%.

Those moves came as investors monitored interest rates in the bond market, with U.S. Treasury yields rising at the fastest new year pace in two decades. The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield rose to as high as 1.71% on Tuesday, last sitting at 1.6473%.

Technology stocks, whose future earnings are less attractive to investors when higher yields tend to be hit when rates rise.

In other corporate developments, Hong Kong-listed shares of China Mobile jumped 3.33%. According to Reuters, the firm made its Shanghai debut on Wednesday in China’s most extensive public share offering in a decade. Mainland-listed shares of China Mobile rose 0.521%.

Meanwhile, China Huarong Asset Management shares plunged 50% after resuming trade from a nine-month suspension.