Alibaba gets Hong Kong's approval for a primary stock listing
A filing Monday showed Chinese internet tech giant Alibaba is another step closer to letting mainland Chinese investors trade its shares directly. Kuang Da | Jiemian News | Visual China Group | Getty Images BEIJING — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is making Hong Kong a " primary" ; listing for its shares, paving the way for mainland China investors to trade the stock directly . The Hong Kong Stock Exchange acknowledged Monday Alibaba's application to convert locally traded shares to primary listing from the current secondary status, according to a filing. It is expected to take effect by the end of 2022, the document said. Gaining primary status in Hong Kong would make Alibaba eligible for inclusion in a stock connect program with mainland China. The stock briefly rose more than 2% in Hong Kong trading Tuesday morning. "We expect that the Primary Conversion will allow us to broaden our investor base and facilitate incremental liquidity, and in particular expan...