By Yifan Wang

Hong Kong technology stocks fell on Monday, after Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Friday said it registered an additional one billion American depositary shares, which could allow key shareholder SoftBank Group Corp. to sell its stake in the U.S. market more easily.

The registration "allows holders of ordinary shares, especially those shares that have never been registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, to have flexibility to sell their shares in ADS rather than as ordinary shares," Citi Research said in a note over the weekend.

Citi thinks the development may be a sign of "potential selling intention" from SoftBank Group, which holds more than five billion ordinary shares, a large portion of which Citi believes hasn't been previously registered with U.S. regulators.

Alibaba shares fell as much as 4.7% in Hong Kong. The stock was down 3.7% at midday, still the worst performer on the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Tech stocks followed Alibaba's sharp decline. Meituan fell 2.6%, AAC Technologies Holdings Inc. lost 3.5% and Sunny Optical Technology Group Co. slipped 2.4%. The Hang Seng Tech Index was 1.8% lower.


Write to Yifan Wang at yifan.wang@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-06-22 2350ET