Alibaba, JD.com, Nio prolong rally in Chinese shares amid continued hope for enjoyable COVID guidelines

By Emily Bary

One ETF tracking Chinese internet stocks has advanced each day this week and was set for a sharp gain Friday

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese internet companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Nio Inc. were rallying sharply in premarket trading Friday as hopeful sentiment continued to build over the possibility that the country was planning to relax its strict COVID-19 policies.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Zeng Guang, who was formerly the chief scientist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said at a conference that there were expected to be “significant” changes to the company’s zero-COVID approach, according to multiple unnamed sources.

Additionally, The Wall Street Journal noted that U.S. inspectors from the Public Accounting Oversight Board were set to complete their on-site review of Chinese companies’ audit records in Hong Kong. That development could ease fears about the prospect of delisting for Chinese companies whose shares trade on U.S. exchanges.

The performance tracks a rally in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng jumped 5%.

See also: Chinese tech sector leads Hong Kong market rebound

Among Friday’s premarket gainers were U.S.-listed shares of Bilibili Inc. (BILI), up almost 14%, Nio (NIO), up nearly 11%, as well as iQiyi Inc. (IQ) and Alibaba (9988.HK), each up nearly 10%.

U.S.-listed shares of JD.com Inc. (JD) were up about 9% while shares of Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) were up about 7% and shares of Huya Inc. (HUYA) were ahead about 6%.

The KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF (KWEB) was advancing nearly 8% in Friday’s premarket action. It’s gained in each of the four prior trading sessions this week, though it’s still off 20% over the past month and 42% so far this year.

-Emily Bary

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-04-22 0701ET

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