What's Going On With Alibaba Stock Wednesday?

Alibaba Group Holding Limited BABA stock is trading higher Wednesday in sympathy with peer JD.Com, Inc JD, which released its third-quarter results.

JD reported third-quarter FY23 revenue growth of 1.7% year-on-year to $33.95 billion, missing the consensus of $34.61 billion. The adjusted net income per ADS of $0.92 beat the consensus of $0.80.

Meanwhile, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) asked Alibaba's logistics arm, Cainiao Network Technology, to describe its business dependency on Alibaba and provide details of spin-off plans by Alibaba's other businesses.

Chinese companies seeking offshore listings must submit materials to the CSRC before overseas share sales.

Cainiao, having separated from Alibaba as the first subsidiary since Alibaba's division into six units earlier this year, won approval for its Hong Kong IPO in October. 

The CSRC inquired about the shareholder structure, questioning why Alibaba and Shen Guojun held Cainiao stakes through various overseas platforms and sought details on past share transfer deals, Reuters reports. 

They also probed whether Cainiao's stock incentive scheme participants complied with Chinese foreign exchange and other regulations and if Cainiao adhered to China's data security and personal data protection laws. 

Additionally, the regulators examined Cainiao's relationship with Alibaba, seeking information on business dependency, related transactions, and overlap in customers and suppliers. 

Finally, the regulator requested Cainiao to clarify Alibaba's rationale and strategy for spinning off assets for listing and to provide details on other units' listing plans.

Price Action: BABA shares traded higher by 2.90% at $86.30 premarket on the last check Wednesday.