Alibaba shares dropped nearly 17% from October peaks on profit-taking but rose 88% overall in 2025 on tech optimism. (File pic)
HONG KONG: Mainland Chinese investors are increasing their stakes in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd ahead of fiscal second-quarter earnings, betting that the strong launch of its AI tool Qwen will help fuel future growth.
Onshore investors bought the tech company’s shares on a net basis for seven consecutive sessions via exchange links with Hong Kong, lifting their stake to 11.07%, according to Kaiyuan Securities Co data. The group’s holdings are now a touch higher than Tencent Holdings Ltd’s, with Alibaba the most purchased over the past 60 sessions.
Alibaba shares rose 4.7% on Monday after its revamped AI tool designed to rival ChatGPT hit 10 million downloads in the week after it became available to the public.
AI spending is expected to be a key focus in Tuesday’s earnings, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. projecting year-on-year cloud revenue growth of 31% even as overall revenue rose just 1%.
Despite a near 17% drop since their October peak as traders booked profits, Alibaba shares remain 88% higher this year, buoyed by China tech optimism following the DeepSeek breakthrough.
Option traders are preparing for a 6.2% stock move on the day following the earnings, less than the average 7.9% fluctuation after the last eight quarterly reports.
