- Alibaba Group logs its best one-day rally since a 21 per cent surge on November 4 on the back of business reorganisation plan
- News fuels a rally on tech peers, a day after co-founder Jack Ma returned to mainland China for the first time after more than a year of travel overseas
Trader works at the post where Alibaba is traded on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on March 28. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong stocks jumped as Alibaba Group Holding powered a rally in Chinese technology companies after the e-commerce market leader unveiled a business reorganisation to boost profits and add value to shareholders.
The Hang Seng Index gained 2.2 per cent to 20,224.33 at 10.06am local time. The Tech Index climbed 3.2 per cent, the most in a week, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent.
Alibaba Group surged 15 per cent to HK$96.85 for the stock’s biggest advance since a 21 per cent surge on November 4. The rally, which added HK$ billion to its market capitalisation, mirrored an overnight surge of 14 per cent in the company’s American depositary shares in New York.
Alibaba Health Information jumped 7.5 per cent to HK$6.45 and JD.com advanced 6.5 per cent to HK$166.20, while Tencent Holdings gained 5 per cent to HK$397. Meituan rallied 4 per cent to HK$140 while Baidu jumped 3.2 per cent to HK$157.10.
Alibaba, the owner of this newspaper, announced on late Tuesday that it would split the US$257 billion tech empire into six independently run units, shortening decision-making process and making them profit and loss centres accountable for their own capital funding.
The announcement came a day after its co-founder Jack Ma returned to mainland China for the first time after more than a year on travel overseas. Ma, one of China’s richest tycoons, stepped down as the group chairman on his 55th birthday in 2019 as part of a succession plan.
Key Asian markets also advanced. Softback Group, which owns a stake in Alibaba, surged as much as 6.4 per cent, aiding a 0.6 per cent rise in the Nikkei 225 Index. The S&P ASX 200 Index in Australia rose 0.1 per cent, while the Kospi in South Korea was little changed.
Comments