Tesla shares in the red for 2021 as bitcoin selloff weighs

Tesla shares in the red for 2021 as bitcoin selloff weighs

LONDON -Shares in Tesla were set to plunge into the red for the year on Tuesday, hit by a broad selloff of high-flying technology stocks and the fall of bitcoin, in which the electric carmaker recently invested $1.5 billion. At 1121 GMT, Tesla was down over 6% in U.S. premarket deals after a 8.5% drop during the previous session.The firm led by Elon Musk has had a stellar ride since 2020, which it began at about $85 per share, before reaching the $900 mark on Jan. 25.Currently trading at about $673 in pre-market transactions, the stock has lost 25% from its peak, which is above the 20% level which technically defines a bear market.Bitcoin has also swung into a bear market, falling from a peak of $58,354 on Feb. 21 to a low of $45,000 earlier on Tuesday.A Germany-based trader said he was "taking chips off the table" on Tesla as its $1.5 billion investment in the cryptocurrency could "backfire now".Among the factors contributing to the rise of the stocks is surging retail and institutional demand for "environmental, social, and governance" (ESG) friendly investments."There is a lot of reasons – purely from a sustainability angle – to hold Tesla, it is