The share price of China online car lot Autohome traded 2.1% above its issue price in its debut in Hong Kong Monday.
The bump failed to meet expectations as investors are becoming increasingly wary of mainland technology stocks.
The operator of one of China's most popular online car-selling applications raised around $688 million through a secondary listing. Autohome priced its shares at HK$176.3 per share. It ended the trading day at HK$180 per share.
The company was expected to raise up to $983 million. However, it was forced to reduce its final pricing after its stocks in the U.S. dropped by more than 12.5% last week. The fall was part of wider selling of technology shares.
Autohome's issue price in Hong Kong represented a 5.5% discount to its price in the U.S. as of its last closing. Since it peaked in mid-February, Autohome's stock price in the U.S. has fallen by more than 34%.
Analysts said Autohome's stock price growth was tepid compared with previous debuts of mainland China technology stocks. In comparison, New Horizon Health's stock nearly doubled during its $263 million initial public offering in Hong Kong last month.
Analysts said the slow opening could be attributed to increasing concerns over the profitability and earnings growth of technology stocks owing to U.S. restrictions and greater regulatory scrutiny.
"The overall poor performance of technology stocks listed in Hong Kong recently is related to the market's worries about the tightening of mainland regulations, including anti-monopoly policies," analysts at Everbright Sun Hung Kai said.
Interest from institutional investors for Autohome's Hong Kong stocks was also disappointing. The tranche was covered four times only - a weaker-than-expected outcome when compared with the performance of recent mainland technology listings.
"Add to that the recent tech volatility and it's not going to be one of the best secondary listing debuts," analysts at Aequitas Research said.
