Alibaba Group Holding Limited (NYSE:BABA) stock declined, contributing to a broader drop in Hong Kong stocks to a nearly two-week low.

Concerns about China's economic growth and diminishing hopes for immediate U.S. interest rate cuts have affected market sentiments. 

Also Read: Alibaba Grapples with Leadership Shakeup and Strategic Shifts Amid Falling Market Share

The poor start to the new year for Hong Kong and Chinese stocks is partly due to reports of China's manufacturing sector shrinking for a third consecutive month in December, as per SCMP. 

The economic downturn is further exacerbated by deepening declines in home sales among top developers. 

Additionally, trends in U.S. markets, particularly tech stocks and bonds, have dampened investor enthusiasm, with reduced expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

Meanwhile, Alibaba announced on Tuesday that it will repurchase 897.9 million shares for $9.5 billion throughout 2023 across U.S. and Hong Kong stock markets. 

The e-commerce giant highlighted that $11.7 billion remains authorized for its share repurchase program, which will continue until March 2025, Reuters reports. 

Alibaba emphasized that this repurchase program led to a 3.3% net reduction in outstanding shares over the past year.

On a separate note, Lazada, Alibaba's Southeast Asian e-commerce arm, recently conducted layoffs at its Singapore office on January 3.

 Both junior and senior employees from various departments, including commercial and marketing teams, were impacted, Technode Global reports. 

The affected staff received invites for individual meetings with the human resources department at the end of the workday on January 2.

These layoffs come amid a series of leadership changes at Lazada and Alibaba since mid-2022. 

Lazada, founded in 2012 by Germany's Rocket Internet, aimed to become Southeast Asia's version of Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Alibaba stock lost 19% last year.

Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.71% at $74.23 premarket on the last check Wednesday.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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