Alibaba, other Chinese tech stocks soar as Beijing throws support behind market

Alibaba (NYSE:BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ:JD) and several other Chinese tech stocks soared on Wednesday after state-run media said the Chinese government would stabilize its markets and support economic growth.

According the Xinhua News Agency, Beijing will take several market friendly measures, including on matters relating to monetary policy and foreign initial public offerings, in order to boost the country’

“Regarding macroeconomic operation, we must implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, effectively invigorate the economy in the first quarter, proactively respond to monetary policy, and maintain moderate growth in new loans,” said a translated version of the Xinhua report.

The report added that the Chinese government “continues to support various types of companies to list overseas,” noting that it would work with U.S. regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission on the matter.

It also said that mainland and Hong Kong regulators should “strengthen communication and cooperation” concerning the stability of Hong Kong’s financial market.

Morgan Stanley analyst Laura Wang said the latest comments from the Chinese government are likely to boost investor confidence.

“We take these statements positively and note that the Hang Seng Index has rallied sharply back above our bear case target of 19,500, with gains also for A shares,” Wang wrote in an investor note. “The path back to our base case, now clearer than before with the above developments, will likely remain a long one.”

Chinese stocks surged in reaction the the report, with Alibaba (BABA) rising more than 26%, while JD.com (JD) jumped 30%.

Alibaba (BABA) and JD (JD) had plenty of company, as Pinduoduo (NASDAQ:PDD) jumped more than 45%, Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) rose almost 26% and ride-sharing leader DiDi Global (NYSE:DIDI) up by more than 46%.

Shares of other companies, such as Tencent (OTCPK:TCEHY), Kingsoft Cloud (NASDAQ:KC), Huya (NYSE:HUYA), DouYu (NASDAQ:DOYU), Dada Nexus (NASDAQ:DADA), Baozun (NASDAQ:BZUN), Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI), KE Holdings (NYSE:BEKE), Joyy (NASDAQ:YY), NetEase (NASDAQ:NTES), Zhihu (NYSE:ZH), Trip.com Group (NASDAQ:TCOM), iQIYI (NASDAQ:IQ), Hello Group (NASDAQ:MOMO), Vipshop (NYSE:VIPS) and Dingdong (NYSE:DDL) also exploded early Wednesday.

Earlier this week, Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU) other Chinese companies plunged after analysts at J.P. Morgan cut their ratings on many of the country’s well-known tech leaders to the equivalent of sell.