Traders had already braced for weaker EV growth this year on lower government subsidies, reflected in a build-up of bearish bets since November. Still, the pace of demand deterioration has caught many off guard. Adding to the strain, soaring costs for battery materials and memory chips are likely to squeeze automakers’ margins even further.
(Feb 6): A relentless sell-off in BYD Co shares is laying bare investor anxiety over the profit outlook for China’s electric-vehicle (EV) sector, as cooling demand at home and surging raw material costs trigger a brutal reset of expectations.
BYD’s Hong Kong-listed shares have dropped about 7% this week after disappointing sales data, extending a sell-off that has shaved off more than US$60 billion ($76.45 billion) in market value since May. The slump reverberated across EV peers, compounding woes for a stock market also grappling with fresh concerns over taxes and business disruption from artificial intelligence (AI).
