Shein Shares Fall Another 5% to HK$46 in Second Session

Shein's stock closed at HK$46 on Wednesday, down more than 5% on its second day of trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, a day after the fast-fashion retailer's shares tumbled as much as 10% before recovering to near their IPO price, Reuters reported.

The close left the stock, which trades under ticker 0625.HK, roughly 5% below the HK$48.56 price Shein set for its initial public offering this week. Tuesday's late rebound was the result of stabilisation measures that can be applied to large listings to limit debut-day declines, a source and analysts told Reuters. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed flat on Wednesday even as Shein extended its slide.

Shein's IPO raised HK$13.6 billion ($1.7 billion), the company's third attempt at a listing after stalled bids in New York and London, and valued the Singapore-headquartered retailer at about $26.5 billion — nearly three-quarters below the roughly $100 billion it commanded in a private funding round in 2022.

"Shein's weak performance reflects investors reassessing a growth story that has become harder to underwrite," said Brandon Ho, head of investment advisory for Singapore at Arta Finance. Ho pointed to slowing revenue growth and thinning margins, along with rising tariffs and customs costs in the US and EU that are squeezing the economics of Shein's low-cost, cross-border shipping model.

IBTimes HK reported Tuesday that Shein's shares had dropped more than 9% on their opening day, part of a broader slide across Hong Kong's tech-heavy market that also pulled down Alibaba and Tencent.

Only a small slice of Shein's stock is actually changing hands. Cornerstone investors including Boyu Capital, Tiger Global, General Atlantic, Tencent and UBS Asset Management, along with other pre-IPO shareholders, agreed to a six-month lock-up on their shares, leaving roughly 5% of the company's stock freely tradable at debut. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Catherine Lim said the lock-up expiry in March 2027, not this week's trading, will be the more meaningful test of Shein's market value.