Alibaba’s 11 per cent surge lifts Hong Kong tech index while China Eastern slips after air crash, grounded jets
- Alibaba expanded its stock buyback programme amid a slump that has erased about two-thirds of its value from record high
- China Eastern Airlines slipped as much as 7.3 per cent after grounding its Boeing jets following a domestic air crash on Monday
The Hang Seng Index surged 3.2 per cent to a two-week high of 21,889.28 at the close of Tuesday trading. The Tech Index jumped 5.4 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 per cent.
Local stocks appear to be holding up after Premier Li Keqiang on Monday said China will use policy tools to keep credit expansion at a reasonable pace and that will avoid measures that will weigh on market sentiment.
“We suggest that in the early stage of a rebound, bargain hunt for oversold technology giants, and collect leading property and infrastructure companies that benefit from growth stabilisation and financial stabilisation policies,” said Cliff Zhao, a strategist at CCB International.
Alibaba boosted the size of its buyback after spending 51 per cent of its US$15 billion buyback allocation last year without success in arresting the price slump. The stock lost almost two-thirds of its value from an all-time high in October 2020 amid Beijing’s regulatory crackdown and US delisting concerns.