The price of shares in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba.com rose 122 percent on the first day of trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, opening at HK$30 (US$3.86) per share.
Alibaba's shares were heavily oversubscribed in an inital public offering of 858.9 million [M] shares. Each share priced at HK$13.50, the top end of the expected price range.
Alibaba is one of China's most prominent Internet companies, running a global trading site called Alibaba.com as well as China's top consumer auction site, called Taobao.com. The company also operates an online payment service called AliPay.
The Alibaba IPO raised HK$11.6 billion, but most of that money will go to existing shareholders who sold off their shares. Only HK$2.9 billion of the amount raised from the IPO will go into the company's coffers to fund future acquisitions and the development of new services and technologies.
Alibaba's buoyant debut wasn't enough to lift the benchmark Hang Seng Index in early trading. The index was down slightly by mid-morning, local time. The Hang Seng Index fell by 4 percent on Monday after the Chinese government indicated it would delay plans to allow Chinese investors to invest in Hong Kong stocks.