The coronavirus pandemic that is raging across the planet has not stopped China’s biggest privately run corporations from soaring in value, the Hurun Research Institute reports.
The average value of the country’s top 500 private enterprises increased by 55 percent to a record $16.5 billion (108 billion yuan) year-on-year, according to a report released by the institute earlier this week.
China’s five biggest technology titans – Tencent, Alibaba Group, Meituan-Dianping, Pinduoduo and JD.com – benefitted from a global stock market rally as the pandemic started receding in the country earlier this year. Each firm added over $100 billion in value over the year.
“The main reasons for the rapid increase were the rise of the new economy, especially after the pandemic, a sharp rise in the stock markets and a flurry of new listings,” said Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman and chief researcher at Hurun.
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, investors have been piling into technology and pharmaceutical stocks globally, seeking growth and certainty. The stocks were also pushed by unprecedented liquidity created by central banks.
Social media and online games operator Tencent, valued at $743 billion, outpaced e-commerce holding Alibaba’s market value of $713 billion to become the most valuable Chinese company. Online food delivery services provider Meituan became the third-biggest private firm in the country with a market cap of $243 billion. Ping An Insurance ($221 billion) and Ant Group ($209 billion) rounded off the top five.
As major technology stocks have been gaining since the beginning of the year, the Nasdaq Composite has advanced 34 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index has added 10 percent. The Hang Seng Tech Index that tracks the 30 largest technology companies listed in Hong Kong has grown 15 percent.
As the pandemic evoked unprecedented growth in the number of online consumers, online shopping platform operators Pinduoduo and JD.com managed to get into the top 10 list for the first time ever. The enterprises demonstrated growth of 289 percent and 200 percent respectively.
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