just do it

Last year, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which raised $16bn on the Hong Kong stock exchange, received $350bn in orders from institutional investors and another $55bn from retail investors.

As a result of the strong interest shown in the Chinese e-commerce group it has decided to close the order book early for institutional investors in Asia and the US.

Unlike retail share applicants, however, institutions do not have to present their money upfront for Hong Kong initial public offerings. That makes it easier for them to submit big orders for popular offerings in the hopes of receiving a bigger allocation.

“It's a bit of a [misleading] number because the dollars don't exist,” said one person familiar with the situation.

Subscription numbers for the IPO's retail tranche, which closes on Friday, were not available yesterday.

In another sign of Alibaba.com's popularity, on Monday the company raised its price range to HK$12-13.50, from an indicative range of HK$10-12. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are acting as Alibaba.com's joint global co- ordinators.

Alibaba.com, China's largest business-to-business website, is coming to market in ideal conditions. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index is again testing the 30,000-point level and has risen more than 40 per cent since mid-August. Chinese companies have been particularly popular, on expectations that Beijing will soon allow mainland investors to begin buying shares in the territory.

Investor demand for Hong Kong dollars has helped push the currency to its upper limit of HK$7.75 to $1.

On Tuesday the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which “pegs” the local currency to the US dollar in a range of 7.75-7.85, intervened in the market for the first time since May 2005, buying $100m in an effort to stop the local currency's rise.