Shein shares fell sharply below their offer price on Tuesday as the fast-fashion retailer made its long-awaited trading debut in Hong Kong. The company had priced shares at HK$48.56 ($6.19) in the middle of its range, raising HK$13.6bn ($1.7bn) and valuing Shein at just over $26bn. However, the stock fell as much as 10 per cent in the first minutes of trading to about HK$43.72 ($5.58), pushing the online retailer's valuation below $25bn. Shares later regained some ground to be 4 per cent lower at HK$46.62.

The lacklustre debut comes in stark contrast to other recent initial public offerings in Asia, with memory-chip maker CXMT and humanoid robot maker Unitree both soaring about 460 per cent on their trading debuts. Covid pandemic lockdowns and social media hype from