Alibaba to join Stock Connect from Tuesday in potential US$12 billion boost to market

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The decision could attract as much as US$12 billion of domestic funds to the beaten-down stock, according to one forecast

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Zhang Shidongin Shanghai

Published: 7:47pm, 9 Sep 2024Updated: 8:20pm, 9 Sep 2024

Alibaba Group Holding is set to join China’s Stock Connect programme, a long-heralded move that will enable some 200 million mainland-based investors to invest in the US$400 billion e-commerce group.

The company’s Hong Kong-listed shares will be added to the southbound channel of the cross-border investment scheme from Tuesday, according to separate statements by the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges on Monday.

The e-commerce leader, based in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, will join top Chinese tech peers including Tencent Holdings, Meituan and smartphone maker Xiaomi in the programme, where their shares are already accessible to onshore traders through the cross-border investment links.

The addition could attract as much as US$12 billion of onshore funds to the stock within six months, according to a forecast by Morgan Stanley. That is a major tonic for the stock and the broader market, given Alibaba’s 8.1 per cent weighting in the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

A boost to Alibaba Group will also lift the city’s equity market given the stock’s big weighting in the Hang Seng Index. Photo: Robert Ng

The stock has lost about HK$5 trillion (US$611 billion), or more than 70 per cent of its market value, since Beijing cracked down on the tech sector in October 2020. The slump has cheapened its valuation to around nine times projected earnings versus its historical average of 17 times, according to Bloomberg data.

This year, Tencent has risen 26 per cent in Hong Kong trading while Meituan has surged 45 per cent. Alibaba underperformed with a 3.6 per cent gain. The Hang Seng Index rose by 0.9 per cent over the same period.