Alibaba share price up 1.14% after its proposed stock split, reported Hong Kong listing

Tech giant Alibaba Group has proposed for a one-to-eight stock split that will increase the number of its ordinary shares to 32 billion, the firm said in a filing that was uploaded on Monday.

The share split will increase the flexibility in the firm’s capital raising activities, including the issuance of new shares, Alibaba said, which ties to the second listing the firm is said to have filed last week through a confidential exchange application with Hong Kong.

The proposal of the share split will be discussed and placed to a vote at its annual general meeting in Hong Kong on July 15. Alibaba’s board has already approved the share split and is recommending for shareholders to be aligned with the executive’s views.

Alibaba debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on September 18, 2014, at US$68 per share. The listing was the biggest United States (US) Initial Public Offering (IPO) in history, larger than US tech firms Google, Facebook, and Twitter combined.

Since late last month, Alibaba was said to have been eyeing for a listing in Hong Kong, a move that would help bring its stock to investors closer to home. The firm is expected to file for as much as US$20 billion in the new listing.

In the Hong Kong offering, the company will seek to preserve its governance system, where a partnership of top executives has rights including the ability to nominate a majority of board members, sources told media outlets.

Alibaba’s share price: technical view

Shares of Alibaba rose to close Monday’s session higher by 1.14% or US$1.81, at US$159.91.

Pre-market trading on Tuesday was light, with the stock higher by 0.30% or US$0.48, at US$160.39.

Year-to-date, Alibaba’s shares have risen by 16.9%, from US$136.70 on January 2. The stock is still 23.3% lower than the peak price of US$208.00 on June 15, last year, before the trade tensions between the US and China worsened in the later part of the year.