By Scott Murdoch and Donny Kwok
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Shares of Horizon Robotics ended 2.8% higher on their Hong Kong debut on Thursday, after the Chinese autonomous vehicle maker raised $696 million in this year's largest initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.
The company sold 1.355 billion shares at HK$3.99 each, according to the its filings.
The stock traded as high as HK$5.50, up 37.8% from the IPO price, before giving up most gains and ending at HK$4.10 in the first day of trade, with 493.2 million shares worth HK$2.38 billion ($306.32 million) changing hands.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.3%. Horizon Robotics was the seventh most actively traded stock by turnover.
Horizon Robotics' debut eclipsed China Resources Beverage, which last week finalised a $650 million new share sale. It is also the largest tech sector IPO in Hong Kong since SenseTime Group raised $740 million in late 2021.
China Resources Beverage had gained 15% on its debut in Hong Kong.
The positive performances will give dealmakers hope that the negative sentiment towards Hong Kong IPOs in the past two years as the result of volatile financial markets and globally high interest rates is starting to ease.
New share sale volumes in Hong Kong ahead of the two latest debuts were at their lowest level in two decades, according to Dealogic data.
Retail investors bid for nearly 34 times the amount of stock on offer in Horizon Robotics' IPO while the institutional portion was 14 times covered, according to the company's filings.
Horizon Robotics had an implied market capitalisation of $6.7 billion from the IPO, according to its filings.
($1 = 7.7697 Hong Kong dollars)