Xiaomi Corp made a weak debut in Hong Kong on Monday, with the Chinese smartphone maker’s shares sliding as much as 6 percent on valuation concerns, in an ominous sign for its technology sector peers lining up listings in the city.
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Xiaomi Corp made a weak debut in Hong Kong on Monday, with the Chinese smartphone maker’s shares sliding as much as 6 percent on valuation concerns, in an ominous sign for its technology sector peers lining up listings in the city.
A packed initial public offering (IPO) calendar in the coming months will include a $4 billion deal from online food delivery-to-ticketing services platform Meituan Dianping and an up to $10 billion IPO from China Tower, the world’s largest mobile tower operator.
“Given the targeted high valuations of many new-economy IPO hopefuls and the number of IPOs going forward, it will be challenging for the market to digest all of them,” said Hong Hao, chief strategist at brokerage BOCOM International.
Xiaomi shares closed at HK$16.80, having touched a low of HK$16 in early trade, compared to the IPO price of HK$17 per share. The main Hong Kong stock market index ended 1.3 percent higher.
Xiaomi priced the IPO at the bottom of the range it offered, in a deal worth $4.72 billion – the world’s biggest technology float in almost four years.
The listing came, however, as escalating trade tensions between the United States and China have shaken markets over the past several weeks. The spat pushed Hong Kong’s benchmark index to a nine-month low last week.
51 Credit Card, a Chinese online credit management company, raised HK$1bn ($127 million) from a Hong Kong IPO after pricing it at the bottom of an indicative price range, Thomson Reuters publication IFR reported on Monday.
Asked at the listing ceremony on Monday if the low pricing of Xiaomi and some other tech firms will weigh on upcoming IPOs, Hong Kong stock exchange CEO Charles Li said it was not up to the exchange to have a view: “The market is always open.
