Alibaba IPO: Shares in Chinese e-commerce giant soar on New York debut

Alibaba's Jack Ma arrives at the NYSE ahead of Friday's IPO (GETTY IMAGES)

Shares in Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, surged on its debut as a publicly traded company in New York on Friday.

The stock traded at $98 per share minutes after its debut- a 44 per cent increase from its initial public offering of $68 a share- on the New York Stock Exchange just before noon.

Chief executive Jack Ma stood on the NYSE trading floor as eight Alibaba customers, including an American cherry farmer and a Chinese Olympian, rang the opening bell from the floor of the NYSE.

On Thursday, Alibaba and the investment bankers arranging the IPO settled on a price of $68 per share. The company and its early investors raised $21.8 billion in the offering, which valued Alibaba at $168 billion in one of the world's biggest ever initial public offerings.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 27 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 17,293 at midday after Alibaba made its big debut in the market. The Standard & Poor's 500 index edged up less than one point, or 0.1 per cent, to 2,012, above its own record from the previous day.

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