Alibaba shares jump up to 6% in Hong Kong debut

HONG KONG: Chinese online retail giant Alibaba’s shares have risen more than six percent on their Hong Kong that debuted today.

Alibaba set the price for each share at HK$176, but the stock jumped 6.25 percent to HK$187 as it began trading on the Hong Kong exchange.

According to Alibaba, previously it could raise almost $13 billion via the initial public offering, which was originally planned for the summer.

Alibaba said that but the raise was pushed back due to the headwinds hitting the city.

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Alibaba’s list price came in below an HK$188 indicative ceiling originally announced.

With 500 million shares offered to investors, the company has said it would raise HK$88 billion ($11 billion). Eight is considered an auspicious number in China.

If it chooses to use its over-allotment option to sell a further 75 million shares, Alibaba could bring in HK$101.2 billion ($12.9 billion).

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Alibaba is China’s biggest online commerce company run globally. Its three main sites Taobao, Tmall, and Alibaba.com have hundreds of millions of users and host millions of merchants and businesses. It handles more business than any other e-commerce company.