Hong Kong's benchmark $Hang Seng Index(800000.HK)$ opened in the red on Monday following a weaker close on Wall Street on Friday, which was dominated by a plunge in social media stocks. The Hang Seng fell 0.7% in opening trade ahead of the crucial U.S. Federal Reserve meeting later this week that could potentially see a 75 bps rate hike.

EVs plunge: $NIO-SW(09866.HK)$ led the losers, with the stock shedding more than 7% in opening trade. $Tesla(TSLA.US)$ rival $XPENG-W(09868.HK)$ fell more than 4%, while $Li Auto-W(02015.HK)$ was down nearly 4.6% at press time.

Tech Loses Shine: Shares of $BABA-SW(09988.HK)$ lost more than 2% in opening trade and $BIDU-SW(09888.HK)$ fell 1.43% on Monday morning. $TENCENT(00700.HK)$ shares were down 1.2%, while shopping platform $Meituan-W(03690.HK)$ lost 0.52%. 

E-commerce player $JD.com, Inc.-SW(09618.HK)$ lost 1.3%.

Company News: Nio is set to enter Germany, Holland, Denmark and Sweden with its flagship ET7 sedan along with its battery swap stations and domestic hiring, reports EV quoting the Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu.

Macro News: Hong Kong banks are set to witness their first increase in prime lending rates in four years with the Fed's imminent rate hike this Thursday to ward-off 40-year high inflation, the South China Morning Post reported, quoting analysts.

Global Markets: U.S. markets ended in the red on Friday, led by a plunge in social media stocks, with the $Nasdaq Composite Index(.IXIC.US)$ falling 1.87%. The $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US)$ closed 0.43% lower, while the $S&P 500 index(.SPX.US)$ shed 0.93%.

Shares of $Snap Inc(SNAP.US)$ nosedived 39% over disappointing second-quarter results.

Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 traded lower at 0.64% while the South Korean Kospi rose marginally by 0.03%. China's Shanghai Composite traded flat, while Australia's ASX 200 was up 0.07% in opening trade.