Chinese Internet Stocks Extend Weekly Decline; DANG Soars (BIDU, SINA, RENN, DANG, YOKU, SOHU, CTRP, QIHU)

Published on Thursday, 08 December 2011 21:26 Written by Gerard Lerod

New York, December 8^th (TradersHuddle.com) – Chinese Internet Stocks fell, extending their weekly decline, as stocks in China closed at yearly lows on European jitters. Concern over Europe as optimism over the EU summit faded, weighed on equity markets, as participants sought safe haven assets. Dangdang surged more than 20% on news that it will launch an e-book platform.

Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU), the owner of the largest Chinese Internet search engine, lost 2.09% to $126.63, as it extended its slump for the week to 5.6% and its move below its 50day moving average at the $129 level. Baidu stock fell as the Shanghai composite fell to a one-year low on concern European woes would continue to impact growth in the world’s second biggest economy. Last week the stock jumped 11.8%, but was not able to break above its 200day moving average at the $135 level. TradersHuddle calculated support for the stock at the $118 level.

Sina Corp. (NASDAQ:SINA), the Chinese online media company and owner of the Weibo microblogging service commonly referred to as the Twitter of China, tumbled 4.16% to $61.26 amid the risk off trade spurred after optimism around Europe proposing solutions to the debt crisis in the region faded. Sina traded as low as $60.8 and as high as $63.67. There was some talk expressing concern over traffic at the sites, which also weighed on performance. Last week, Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to a Buy from Hold.

Renren (NYSE:RENN), the leading real name social networking Internet platform in China, gained 0.56% to $3.62, actually able to staged a rebound in the session after trading as low as $3.47. Yesterday, Taobao Mall, an e-commerce site, announced that it would add social networking features, using Taobao's 400 million registered users. Last week, the stock logged a new all-time low of $3.38.

Dangdang (NYSE:DANG), the ecommerce site that it’s known as the Chinese Amazon.com, surged close to 20% to $5.57 on reports that it will follow Amazon.com into the digital books, as it will launch an e-book platform later this month. The company started its business in China in a similar fashion than Amazon by focusing in selling books and becoming the largest online book reseller in the country to then diversified into general merchandise. Last month, Dandang logged a new all-time low at $4.36.

Youko.com (NYSE:YOKU), the Chinese version of you tube, gained 1.01% to $19.05 after trading as low as $18.52. The stock cut its weekly decline to 4.3%. Last week, Goldman Sachs had positive comments for the stock. Youko had a difficult November, falling 14.5% after the company missed earnings expectations on revenues that were above consensus, while it provided downside revenue growth guidance for the current quarter.

Sohu.com (NASDAQ:SOHU), the Chinese search engine and Internet portal, tumbled 4.06% to $50.12 after trading as low as $49.92. The stock has calculated support at $46.84 and resistance at $54.55. Last week, UBS upgraded Sohu to a Buy from Hold. In after hours, the company announced that it renewed and expanded its subscription with DigitalGlobe, enabling Sohu to increase content to 100 cities and offer broadened location-based services.

Ctrip.com (NASDAQ:CTRP), the one-stop China travel service provider, plunged 7.58% to $23.06 after posting a new yearly low at $22.95 on heavy volume, with close to double the average trading volume. The stock was one of the worst performers in the NASDAQ 100 index. Ctrip continues in a downtrend since July on concerns over declining margins and competitive threats on its business.

And Qihoo 360 Technology (NYSE:QIHU), the provider of Internet and mobile security products in China, jumped 2.51% to $18.40 after it continued to reject a series of allegations made since earlyt November by Citron Research who has admitted that it stands to profit from a drop in the share price. Qihoo said that a report from Citron Research contains numerous errors of fact and misleading speculations.