Shares of South African e-commerce firm Naspers headed toward their biggest one-day loss in two and a half years on Friday, hit by a sell-off in China’s Tencent Holdings – of which Naspers owns over a third.<\/p>\n
Investors hammered Tencent after China’s central bank ordered a halt to some mobile payment methods used by Internet companies, amid concerns over the security of their verification procedures.<\/p>\n
The move is seen as hitting the mobile payment businesses of Tencent, China’s largest Internet company, and its smaller rivals.<\/p>\n
Shares of Tencent fell as much as 7% in Hong Kong before closing down 4.1%.<\/p>\n
The company’s explosive growth in recent years has helped make Naspers the most valuable company with a primary listing in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Shares of Naspers were down 5.6% at R1,215 at 13:30 local time, making it the biggest drag on the benchmark Top-40 index and putting the stock on track for its biggest one-day loss since late 2011.<\/p>\n
Analysts weigh up Naspers post-Bekker<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Naspers restructures e-commerce business<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n