- India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has banned 54 apps it says are of Chinese origin, including Sea Ltd (NYSE:SE) marquee game Free Fire, Bloomberg reports.
- The apps banned include those belonging to Tencent Holdings Ltd (OTC:TCEHY), Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA), and NetEase Inc (NASDAQ:NTES), and are re-branded versions of apps already banned by India in 2020.
- Sea, founded in Singapore by Chinese-born founders who became Singaporean citizens, has focused on building a gaming and e-commerce business globally with backing from its largest shareholder Tencent.
- Free Fire, the battle royale shooter often compared with PUBG, with over a billion downloads on Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google Play, was the highest-grossing mobile game in India in Q3 as per industry tracker App Annie.
- The ban follows a long-running dispute between the two nuclear-armed nations after boiling over in a 2020 skirmish that left soldiers from both sides dead and drew stricter laws in India for investments from China, including the original app ban.
- Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 1.37% at $120.58 in the premarket on the last check Monday.
USA Nonfarm Payrolls for Nov 210.000K vs 550.000K Est; Prior Revised from 531.000K to 546.000K
USA Nonfarm Payrolls for Nov 210.000 thousand vs 550.000 thousand consensus estimate. The prior reading was revised from an initial 531.000 thousand to 546.000 thousand.
