Shares of Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) listed in Hong Kong rose 7.1% in Wednesday’s morning trade – after China’s Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission approved a plan for Ant Group’s capital expansion plan for its consumer financial unit based in Chongqing.
According to a notice posted last week, Chinese regulators gave the greenlight to billionaire Jack Ma’s financial technology firm to raise 10.5 billion yuan ($1.5 billion).
Ant Group is an affiliate of Alibaba in which the e-commerce giant owns 33%. Ant Group runs the Alipay mobile payments wallet in China. Alibaba’s shares rose 2.78% on Tuesday, the first trading session after the notice was posted.
The approval marks progress in the state-led regulatory overhaul of the fintech giant.
Chinese tech leaders such as Alibaba, Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) and Tencent Holdings kicked 2023 off with notable gains as Beijing's new foreign minister said he wants to improve relations with the United States.
Qin Gang, who served as China's ambassador to the U.S. for 17 months before his promotion last Friday, said in a tweet on Monday night that he would push for closer ties with the U.S. now that he will be running China's international governmental affairs. Qin's appointment comes following what has a been a tense period between the two countries around issues such as COVID-19 policies, the potential use of U.S. technology by the Chinese military and ongoing supply chain slowdowns involving products made for tech giants such as Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC).
BABA shares in New York picked up $6.29, or 6.8%, to $98.27.
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