BAIDU Inc. made a tepid debut in its Hong Kong secondary stock listing yesterday, bucking a trend of first-day pops on the bourse, as investors were wary of a fundraising flurry in the city and questioned the search company’s growth plans.

The somber investor mood toward mainland technology offerings was reinforced with video site Bilibili raising a less-than-expected US$2.6 billion in its secondary listing.

The shares opened just 0.8 percent higher than their offering price of HK$252 ($32.45) and closed up only

The lackluster debut compared with some of the city’s other major first-day movers in 2021, like Kuaishou Technology which gained 160 percent in early February.

Hong Kong has seen US$31.4 billion raised through share sales so far this year, compared with US$8.6 billion over the same period last year, prompting concerns that appetite to buy new deals could be weakening.

Baidu’s tame Hong Kong start comes even as its New York listed stock rose 3.4 percent Monday and is up 23 percent since the start of the year.

Baidu chairman and CEO Robin Li said the secondary listing was a homecoming for the company.

“When Baidu got listed in Nasdaq. I said Nasdaq was only one of our stops. Baidu would come back to China eventually, because China is our root. Today, Baidu finally came back home,” he said.

Aequitas Research analyst Ming Lu said some investors remained wary of Baidu’s plans to expand into electric vehicles production.

“The market is betting too much on Baidu’s new businesses ... patient investors want to see some vehicle related sales in the second quarter results,” said Lu, who publishes on the Smartkarma research platform. (SD-Agencies)