Sentimentime Soars 150% Despite US Sanctions

(Photo by Reuters)

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] SenseTime, China's largest artificial intelligence (AI) company, which has been targeted by the U.S. government's investment ban, has seen its stock price surge for four consecutive days since its listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

On the 4th, SenseTime's stock price on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange soared to 9.7 Hong Kong dollars at one point during the trading session, up 20% from the previous close. This represents a 152% increase compared to SenseTime's initial public offering (IPO) price of 3.85 Hong Kong dollars, which began trading on the 30th of last month.

SenseTime's stock price has continued its upward trend, rising 7% and 33% respectively on the first and second days of listing on the 30th and 31st of last month. On the third trading day, the previous day, it closed at 7.75 Hong Kong dollars after a 40.91% surge, doubling its price within three days of listing.

This sharp rise in SenseTime's stock price, despite facing stringent sanctions from the U.S. government, is considered highly unusual.

Bloomberg News assessed that the market's enthusiastic response to a company facing U.S. sanctions is influenced by short-term speculative buying. Steven Lung, Managing Director at Singapore investment bank UOB Kay Hian, said, "This kind of stock price surge appears to be driven by short-term speculative buying."

SenseTime was originally scheduled to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on the 17th, but the listing was delayed by about two weeks after the U.S. Treasury Department added the company to its blacklist on the 10th, restricting investments due to human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China.

According to Dealogic data, SenseTime's IPO is the fifth largest in the history of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Through this offering, SenseTime issued 1.5 billion new shares at 3.85 to 3.99 Hong Kong dollars per share, raising 5.775 billion Hong Kong dollars.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.