By Alun John

HONG KONG, (Reuters) – Asian shares dropped on Friday due to disappointing earnings by Chinese ecommerce giants Alibaba (NYSE:) There are growing concerns about Beijing’s regulatory crackdown, and the slowing of growth in China’s second largest economy.

This resulted in a weak Wall Street performance for the region overnight. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific broadest index outside Japan fell 0.44%, and was forecast to drop 1.2% weekly.

Tokyo’s performance was better than expected, but it rose 0.40% following Fumio Kishhida, the Japanese Prime Minister, a new stimulus package that includes spending of approximately 56 trillion yen (490 billion)

The and Nasdaq closed at record highs overnight, buoyed by positive corporate earnings news, including Nvidia’s (NASDAQ:).

However, the mood was quieter in Asia. The benchmark Hong Kong index fell sharply by 1.5% after being dragged lower by Alibaba’s index. After its disappointing second quarter results, the shares of Chinese ecommerce company Alibaba plunged more than 10%. This was due to falling consumption and increased competition as well as regulatory restrictions.

According to analysts, the fall is caused by slowing China’s economic growth. However, an extensive regulatory crackdown that Beijing has been imposing across many industries, including property, technology and finance, had a more general impact on investor sentiment.

Recent Chinese economic data have highlighted a decline in growth momentum. The outlook for the next twelve months is more muted than it was at the beginning of this year.

Citi analysts released a note stating that they were surprised by the quarter-end miss at Alibaba due to a significant slowdown of National Bureau of Statistics retail sales data in the past two month. This led them to lower their target stock price.

The global mood is still affected by the Turmoil problem in China’s real estate sector. This is a result of a high debt burden, tight liquidity, and an ongoing crackdown from Beijing.

Hong Kong shares in Country Garden Services Holding plunged 16% following a sale of shares. Country Garden Services Holding is a property management company of Chinese developer Country Garden.

The blue chips of China were also flat as much of the rest.

Other major currencies were quiet, as the dollar hovered just under a 16-month high against its peers.

While the Japanese yen didn’t react much to the stimulus announcements, they were headed for a modest weekly loss. However, at 114.27, dollar, it has since recovered almost 5 years after hitting 114.97, a low just days ago.

Emerging markets have seen a currency crisis in Turkey, which has caused the lira’s record-breaking low to plunge after the central bank, under political pressure, cut rates despite an inflation rate of near 20%.

At 1.5924%, the benchmark Treasury yields for the U.S. were constant.

The UST market continues to consolidate within its recent ranges, and awaits new catalysts for shifting valuations. “…there is still a lot in the price. As such, it is possible that progress towards higher yields will be slow. This is due to momentum shifts as well as sentiment swings,” Westpac analysts wrote in a note.

Early Asia saw steady oil prices. The price per barrel was $79, which is flat. The price of a barrel rose by 0.06%, to $81.33

After Reuters reported that Biden’s administration had asked several of the most oil-consuming nations in the world – China, India, Japan – about releasing their crude stockpiles as part of a concerted effort to reduce global energy prices, oil dropped to its lowest levels for six weeks.

The increase was 0.18%