(Jan 12): Shares of China’s biggest food-delivery firms climbed as the nation’s top antitrust body launched a probe into competition practices in the sector, spurring hopes that authorities will rein in subsidy-driven price wars.
Market leader Meituan’s stock rallied as much as 8% in Hong Kong, the most since February last year. Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, the biggest challenger to Meituan, rose as much as 5.4 while those of JD.com Inc gained more than 2%.
“The increased scrutiny on competition will be supportive of industry margins,” according to Catherine Lim, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “It will curb subsidy-led expansion and raise compliance costs for new entrants.”
The State Council’s anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition committee will look into competition behaviour among delivery platforms under China’s antitrust law through on-site checks, interviews and surveys, according to a statement released by the State Administration for Market Regulation on Friday (Jan 9).
Beijing has heightened scrutiny of the retail sector since 2025, following billions of dollars of investment by Alibaba, Meituan and JD.com in subsidies and incentives to dominate meal delivery. Last year, the trio engaged in one of China’s most aggressive price wars, offering steep discounts and perks to lure consumers.
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Investors are hoping that the probe will help curb, if not eradicate, the rampant discounting and subsidies that have eroded margins for the companies.
Gains were broad across Chinese tech stocks in Hong Kong on Monday, with sentiment buoyed by a media report that DeepSeek was expected to launch its next-generation AI model that features strong coding capabilities in the coming weeks. Kuaishou Technology — recently in the spotlight thanks to its AI video app — and Bilibili Inc. each advanced more than 5%.
Investors are also awaiting potential developments from a major conference in Beijing later this week, where China’s AI developers are expected to convene.
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The Hang Seng Tech Index was up 2.1% at the midday break in Hong Kong while a broader gauge of Asian stocks advanced 0.3%.
Uploaded by Arion Yeow
