(Updates shares after HK market close in paragraphs 1-2, adds comment from NIO and background in paragraphs 5-7) SINGAPORE, Oct 16 (Reuters) – NIO stock closed down nearly 9% on Thursday, as investors fretted over the Chinese electric vehicle maker's outlook amid a U.S. securities lawsuit by Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. The stock closed at a one-month low of HK$49.28 ($6.34) and was the biggest percentage loser on Hong Kong's Hang Seng Tech Index and Hang Seng Automobile Index. The drop followed a Wednesday report on the lawsuit from Chinese financial news magazine Caixin. The U.S.-listed shares of NIO were down 0.7% in volatile trading. In the lawsuit, filed in August in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, GIC said NIO and two executives misled investors with false statements and withheld information about its business and prospects. "It stems from false allegations made by short-selling firm Grizzly Research LLC against NIO in a short-selling report released in June 2022," the company said, An independent board committee, together with third-party law and forensic firms, reviewed the claims in August 2022 and "found no factual basis," NIO added. Grizzly Research had alleged that NIO inflated revenue and profit by using Wuhan Weineng, an unconsolidated related party, to pull forward battery-as-a-service sales. GIC declined to comment on Thursday. GIC is one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, managing foreign reserves and investing globally across sectors such as technology and infrastructure. ($1 = 7.7712 Hong Kong dollars) (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore, Donny Kwok in Hong Kong and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; additional reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Anil D'Silva)
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