While Ant downplayed the potential for an IPO, the move, along with the company adding independent board members, makes the company more appealing to investors as “No shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over Ant Group.” Exchanges in Mainland China and Hong Kong have rules that require a waiting period of one year or more after a change in control prior to an IPO, which raises the attractiveness of a US listing.
Alibaba, along with several other companies, including Tencent, which gained +3.61%, had further analyst price target upgrades on China’s reopening as Hong Kong-listed internet stocks had a strong day except for Meituan, which fell -1.15%, and JD.com, which was flat.
The timing of the article is bad as foreign investors bought $1.14 billion worth of Mainland stocks today, following last week’s $2.9 billion, though clearly the investors referenced in the article are poor market timers as CNY rallied versus the US dollar, gaining +0.67% to close at 6.78 CNY per USD. It is amazing how little media coverage CNY’s rally versus the US dollar has garnered.
The Hang Seng and Hang Seng Tech indexes gained +1.89% and +3.15%, respectively, on volume that increased +5.49% from Friday, which is 124% of the 1-year average.
The top-performing sectors included materials, which gained +5.23%, consumer discretionary, which gained +3.48%, and communication services, which gained +3.37%, while real estate was the only down sector, falling -1.44%. The top-performing subsectors were food, materials, and retail, while autos, real estate, and household/personal products were the worst.
The top-performing sectors were consumer staples, which gained +3.13%, materials, which gained +2.64%, and communication services, which gained +2.23%, while utilities and real estate were off -0.04% and -0.06%, respectively.
CNY gained +0.67% versus the US dollar, closing at 6.78, Treasury bonds sold off, and copper gained +0.85%. Major Chinese City Mobility Tracker.
Full Story: https://www.forbes.com/sites/brendanahern/2023/01/09/alibabas-ant-could-be-marching-toward-an-ipo-cnys-remarkable-ghost-rally