Alibaba, Tencent lead Chinese tech gains even as 'zero-Covid' protests continue
Andrew Burton/Getty Images News

Chinese tech stocks such as Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent Holdings (OTCPK:TCEHY) started the week with mild gains on Monday as unrest grew and protests against China's "zero-Covid" strategy spread across the country.
Reports emerged about large protests in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai against China's ongoing Covid policies that have been aimed at eradicating the virus through measures such as widespread quarantines and snap lockdowns across the country. In some cases, Beijing has implemented what has been called "closed looped" environments around some of the massive, city-sized facilities where many well-know consumer electronics products are made. Those policies have included locking down workers in their company dormitories and not allowing traveling in or out of the facilities.
As investors returned after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in the U.S., in which American stock markets were closed last Thursday and open for just half a day on Friday, they were greeted with cautiously positive performances from many leading Chinese tech stocks.
Alibaba (BABA) was up by more than 2%, while Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY) rose 2.5%. Baidu (BIDU) shares rose 3%, Weibo (WB) gained 2%, NetEase (NTES) and JD.com (JD) rose almost 3%.
The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) was up by nearly 5%.
Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) shares surged by more than 15% after the e-commerce platform developer reported better-than-expected third-quarter results prior to the start of trading.
Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shares gave up almost 2% as Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said the iPhone maker, and many semiconductor suppliers, were in the "crossfire" of China's controversial Covid policies.