The Hangzhou-based company operates some of China’s most widely used online shopping platforms, making its performance a bellwether for consumer sentiment.

It announced yesterday that sales rose 8% to ¥280 billion (US$38.4 billion) in the three months through December, exceeding the ¥277 billion estimated by a Bloomberg pool of analysts.

The news sent its share prices rocketing as much as 13.6% in Hong Kong – building on a rally that has seen it bounce 65% higher since the turn of the year and is now at a three-year high.

Its New York-listed shares climbed more than 8%.

The Hang Seng Index jumped 3.13%, or 706.08 points, to 23,283.06.

The Hang Seng tech index surged more than 5%, with other household names making big moves higher.

Tencent added 5%, Meituan and XD Inc jumped more than 3%, and JD.com gained almost 3%.

China’s tech sector has been on a roll this year, and has been given an extra boost since startup DeepSeek unveiled a chatbot that upended the global AI sector.

Adding to the upbeat mood was news that Alibaba’s legendary co-founder Jack Ma met Chinese president Xi Jinping as part of a gathering of the country’s top business leaders that indicated a softening towards the private sector after years of crackdowns.

Ma’s inclusion hinted at the billionaire magnate’s potential public rehabilitation after years out of the spotlight following a tangle with regulators.

Xi told the leaders that challenges facing the country’s embattled private sector were “surmountable”.

He also said Beijing was focused on removing obstacles to commerce, promoting fair competition, cracking down on arbitrary fines and protecting business interests.

Since taking the helm, Xi has strengthened the role of state enterprises in the world’s second-largest economy and waged crackdowns on areas of the private sector undergoing “disorderly” expansion.

The drive has hammered some of the country’s biggest names in recent years, sending their share prices plummeting.