Shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. BABA,
shot up 7.3% to a more than 6-week high in premarket trading on Wednesday, putting them on track for a fifth straight profit after co-founder Jack Ma made his first public appearance in nearly three months made. The rally in the shares of the China-based internet giant puts them on track to open at the highest price seen during regular session hours since December 4. A spokesperson for the Jack Ma Foundation confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that Ma attended the online ceremony of the annual Rural Teacher Initiative event on January 20. Ma has not been seen in public since Oct. 24, when Ma spoke at a financial forum and criticized regulators for suppressing financial and technological innovation, as the WSJ reported. That led regulators to derail Ant Group Co., which Ma controls, to go public. Since Ma’s last public appearance through Tuesday, Alibaba’s share has fallen 18.8%, while the iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI,
rose 13.0% and the S&P 500 SPX,
advanced 9.6%.