China Covid relaxation, Hong Kong stocks rise

Indonesia’s GoTo Group – the merged entity of ride-hailing giant Gojek and e-commerce marketplace Tokopedia – has lost 68.5% of its initial value of 400 trillion rupiah ($28 billion) since its initial public offering in April.

On Thursday, pre-IPO shareholders such as Alibaba and SoftBank opted out of a secondary offering following the lock-up expiration on Nov. 30, causing the stock price to drop 7%.

The companies had agreed to an eight-month lock-up period to support GoTo’s stock price following its IPO as early shareholders.

Its share price continued to drop in Monday’s session, with the company’s valuation standing at about 126 trillion rupiah, according to CNBC calculations. GoTo shares have been falling over the year, losing 68% of their value.

– Sheila Chiang

Australia’s central bank is expected to raise its cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.1% on Tuesday, according to economists polled by Reuters.

That would be the Reserve Bank of Australia’s eighth hike this year, and the third consecutive hike of 25 basis points since October.

In a statement following its November meeting, the RBA said “the full effect” of the series of cash rate hikes lie ahead.

Meanwhile, Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index, said there’s potential for a pause in rate hikes further ahead.

“The case for a pause is certainly building,” he said. “Some measures of inflation expectations are moving lower, and the monthly inflation print suggests inflation has peaked.”

Inflation in Australia remains well above the RBA’s target of between 2% and 3%, though it saw slight easing in October, according to the central bank’s monthly consumer price indicator.

— Charmaine Jacob

Strategists at Morgan Stanley have raised its recommendation for Chinese stocks to overweight, according to a Sunday note.

The upgrade marks the end of the firm’s equal-weight stance on Chinese equities that it has held for close to two years, strategists led by Laura Wang said.

Morgan Stanley noted multiple factors seeing “meaningful positive development” since November, including what the firm views as “a confirmed path towards final post-Covid reopening.”

— Michael Bloom, Jihye Lee

Chinese technology, consumer and travel-related firms listed in Hong Kong saw sharp gains in early trade after some cities in China saw some easing in Covid restrictions.

Tech heavyweights Tencent gained 5.5% and Meituan rose 3.5%, while Alibaba jumped 4.72% and Xiaomi added 7.31%. EV stocks such as Li Auto jumped 9.19% and Nio climbed 11.5%.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong-listed casino stocks also jumped, with MGM China rising 12.44%, Wynn Macau climbing 12.35% and Sands China adding 7.5%. Galaxy Entertainment rose 3.61% and SJM Holdings rose 4.82%.

Hotpot restaurant operator Haidilao soared 15%, and shares of airlines also popped. China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines each rose more than 5%, while Air China gained 4%.

The broader Hang Seng…