Share prices for US-listed Chinese technology stocks including e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com reached historical highs on Wednesday after a domestic stock market rally reached fever pitch.
Why it matters: The jump in share prices for major US-listed Chinese tech firms followed recent gains for Chinese equities.
- The Shanghai Composite soared around 9% this week, aided by a bullish front-page editorial from state-owned China Securities Journal and growing optimism triggered by economic recovery after the Covid-19 lockdown.
- The gains come in spite of growing scrutiny of publicly traded Chinese firms over potential accounting issues.
Read more: As China tech stocks surge, a fundraising window opens
Details: Alibaba shares climbed 9.0% to close at $258 on Wednesday, its market valuation gaining around $6 billion to reach a historical high of $701.08 billion.
- JD.com’s market cap hit $102.93 billion on Wednesday after its shares jumped 6% to close at $65 apiece. It became the fifth listed Chinese tech company to pass the $100 billion mark, joining Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan, and Pinduoduo.
- Share prices for Hong Kong-listed companies also climbed—Tencent jumped 6.6% and Meituan rose 2.5% as of publication.
- Blue City Holdings, the owner of China’s largest LGBT dating app Blued, soared 46% in its Nasdaq debut after raising $85 million.
- Other Chinese tech stocks which climbed on Wednesday: microloan service Qudian surged 36%, app developer Cheetah Mobile jumped 31%, influencer platform Ruhnn was up 20%, and JD-backed grocery delivery service Dada-JD Daojia rose 13%.
- Baidu and Pinduoduo were relative underperformers, rising a respective 2.2% and 1.4%.
Context: Chinese internet firms are returning to domestic markets, including secondary listings for Alibaba, JD.com, and Netease in Hong Kong, and JD Digits on Shanghai’s STAR market.
- Sina, a Chinese online news portal and minority owner of microblogging service Weibo, may delist and go private after 20 years of trading on the Nasdaq.