Econtrol Smart Driving's gray market trading falls below its issue price: it once plunged nearly 20% intraday and closed 4% higher | The Bell Ringing Moment
The "Bell Ringing Moment" column focuses on the critical moment when an enterprise officially lands on the capital market. After every bell-ringing ceremony, the market delivers its first verdict on the enterprise's growth, valuation and intrinsic quality.
Text by Peng Xiaoqiu, WANG JING
On the eve of its listing, Eacon Smart Driving (07687.HK), the world's first listed enterprise of global mining area autonomous driving, traced a V-shaped trend on Futu's grey market. As of the close of the grey market at 18:30 on July 7, it closed at HK$91.50, up 4.07% from the issue price of HK$87.92. However, this rally did not come easily, with the full-day price amplitude approaching 25%, showing a typical trend of breaking the issue price at opening, deep intraday plunge and late-session rebound.
For in-depth coverage of Eacon Smart Driving, please see On the Eve of Listing | After cashing out billions of yuan, he drove the autonomous mining truck business to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange
Eacon Smart Driving was finally priced at the upper limit of the offering range at HK$87.92, with an issued market value of about HK$13 billion and 148 million total shares. On the grey market today, the stock broke the issue price immediately at opening, opening at HK$82.70, about 5.9% lower than the issue price; then it kept falling, hitting the intraday lowest at HK$71.00, down 19.2% from the issue price, nearly 20%.
It then rebounded step by step, touching a high of HK$92.70 (+5.4%), and closed at HK$91.50, with a full-day price amplitude of 24.68%.
In fact, the rally of Eacon Smart Driving is not solid. The average transaction price in the grey market is HK$87.07, still slightly lower than the issue price, which means most of the full-day transactions were completed below the issue price. The late rally looks more like a last-minute pullback before close, showing obvious divergence between bulls and bears. Trading activity was also relatively light: the total transaction amount was about HK$94.07 million, with the turnover rate at only 0.73%.
Calculated by the grey market closing price, the market value reached HK$13.53 billion; based on its 2025 revenue of RMB 1.435 billion, the static price-to-sales ratio is about 8.2x, and it is about 7.9x based on the issue price. The company is still in a net loss state, so the price-to-earnings ratio is not applicable.
It is worth noting that CIDI (03881.HK), which operates in the same autonomous mining truck track and is the first listed enterprise of commercial vehicle intelligent driving on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, broke the issue price by 13.69% on its first listing day on December 19, 2025, and did not rebound in the following months until catalyzed by events such as being included in the Stock Connect scheme. Whether the stock can hold the issue price on its official first trading day remains to be verified tomorrow.
Since 2026, more than 80% of new shares listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have risen on their first trading day. The overall positive sentiment for new share subscription is one of the backgrounds supporting the late rebound of this grey market. However, the proportion of public offering in this issuance is not high, 8 cornerstone investors subscribed for about 50% of the offered shares with a 6-month lock-up period. The immediately tradable floating share is relatively small, which is a double-edged sword that can be easily pulled up as well as sharply pushed down, and this also explains the nearly 25% price amplitude in the grey market.
Nevertheless, the grey market is not equivalent to official trading, it is an over-the-counter market and does not represent the stock trend on the first formal listing day. The trading volume and pricing after the official listing tomorrow (July 8) will be the real answer.