Hong Kong-listed shares in e-commerce giant Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA) rose 5.5% in Monday's session, after the company was said to have denied reports that it planned to invest in Chinese artificial intelligence developer DeepSeek.
Chinese news outlet The Paper reported on Friday that an Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA) executive said that the reports were untrue.
According to Reuters, The Paper cited a post made by the company's vice president Yan Qiao on her personal WeChat moments feed, in which she said: "As a fellow Chinese and Hangzhou company, we applaud DeepSeek, but news circulating that Alibaba will invest in DeepSeek is fake news."
DeepSeek's AI advancements rattled tech stocks and markets more broadly at the end of January, raising concerns about the level of spending in the space by US tech giants.
Alibaba (9988.HK, BABA) declined to comment on the reports.
Taiwan-listed shares in chipmaker TSMC (2330.TW, TSM) fell nearly 2% in Monday's session, after the company warned first quarter revenue would be at the lower end of guidance.
TSMC (2330.TW, TSM) said that revenue for the first three months of its fiscal year would be at the lower end of its guidance range of $25bn (£20bn) to $25.8bn, after Taiwan experienced 6.4 magnitude earthquake.
"There was no structural damage to our fabs, and the water supply, power, workplace safety systems, and operations are functioning normally," TSMC (2330.TW, TSM) said. "A certain number of wafers in process were impacted and had to be scrapped due to the earthquake and aftershocks."
The chipmaker said that earthquake-related losses were estimated to be approximately 5.3 billion new Taiwan dollars.
However, TSMC (2330.TW, TSM) added that it maintained its first quarter gross profit margin of between 57% and 59% and that there was no change to its full-year outlook.
For January, TSMC (2330.TW, TSM) reported revenue of approximately 293.29 billion new Taiwan dollars, which is up nearly 36% on the same period last year.
US president Donald Trump announced on Sunday plans to impose 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports into the US.
The president confirmed that he would make the formal announcement on Monday, marking another significant escalation in his ongoing trade policy overhaul.
Meanwhile, Trump suggested that Japan's Nippon Steel (5401.T) could make an investment in the United States Steel Corporation (X).
Trump and Japanese prime minster Shigeru Ishiba discussed a deal at a summit in Washington on Friday, according to Bloomberg.
Trump was then said to have told reporters on Sunday: "I don’t want US Steel being owned by a foreign country."
"All they can have is an investment," he added.
Shares in US Steel (X) were up more than 6% in pre-market trading on Monday morning, while Nippon Steel (5401.T) fell less than 1% at the start of the week.
Shares in oil major BP (BP.L) jumped 6% on Monday morning, following reports over the weekend that activist firm Elliott Investment Management had built a stake in the company.
Bloomberg reported on Saturday that Elliott had amassed a significant holding in oil major BP (BP.L), which has typically been the first step in its plans to push for change at other public companies.
A spokesperson for Elliott Investment Management had not responded to Yahoo Finance UK's request for comment at the time of writing.
Neil Wilson, analyst at TipRanks, said: "The firm is sure to face pressure to make substantial changes, from an overhaul of its green bets to a shake-up of the board. Probably also expect a big shift to focus on upstream capital projects to improve cash flow."
BP (BP.L) is set to release its fourth quarter results on Tuesday, with the oil major having flagged in a January trading statement that it expected to see report refining margins in the fourth quarter.
In other news on the London market, shares in ITV (ITV.L) were up nearly 4% on Monday, following a report that investors in the broadcaster backed a deal involving its studio arm.
The Financial Times reported on Sunday that major shareholders supported efforts to explore a potential deal for ITV Studios, which is the production studio responsible for hit shows including The Traitors.
