World stocks fall after Donald Trump bans U.S. transactions with WeChat and Tiktok

Chinese technology stocks lost more than $75bn in value on Friday after US President Donald Trump unveiled executive orders targeting popular social media apps TikTok and WeChat.

Shares in Tencent fell as much as 10.1 percent in Hong Kong after Mr. Trump issued an executive order that gave US companies 45 days to halt transactions with its WeChat app. A separate order targets transactions with ByteDance’s hugely popular video-sharing platform TikTok.

Tencent’s stock recovered some of those losses to close down 5 percent. In total, the sell-off lopped off $75.7bn in market capitalization from Chinese technology groups listed in Hong Kong.

Equity traders said the broad scope of Mr. Trump’s statements left open the possibility that the US could bar all dealings with Tencent and ByteDance. That could potentially deliver a serious blow to Tencent’s US gaming business. The company also owns stakes in companies including electric car maker Tesla, games group Epic Games, and music streaming business Spotify.

The losses extended beyond the companies named in the bans. Chinese internet groups Alibaba and JD.com fell as much as 6.7 percent and 5 percent, respectively.