NIO’s Hong Kong, Singapore shares hit new highs as outlook brightens

The two listings are relatively new, having occurred earlier this year. NIO’s U.S.-listed shares
NIO,
-3.65%
have also been rebounding from recent lows, last closing up 4.5% at US$24.08, but are still well off their previous highs.

Its peers are also broadly higher in Monday morning trade, with Xpeng Inc.’s
9868,
+1.25%
Hong Kong stock up 0.4% at HK$136.90 and BYD Co. Ltd.
1211,
+2.51%
advancing 2.1% to HK$316.60.

The moves come amid expectations that global EV demand is set to rise, with analysts from Nomura projecting growth of 32% a year through to 2025. Sales in China “should be underpinned by price-competitive, technologically advanced, and attractively-designed EV models,” they said in a note.

U.S. and European sales are also set to get a boost from increasing consumer preferences for low-emission vehicles and mounting regulatory pressure to cut carbon emissions, the analysts said.

Prices for the raw materials needed to make vehicle batteries — like lithium, cobalt and nickel–also look set to decline from 2023 amid greater supply, which should ease cost pressures for companies like NIO, they added.

There also appears to be strong interest in NIO’s product offering, Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Kelvin Lau said in a recent note. Order flows for the company’s recently launched ES7 has been strong and there hasn’t been any sales cannibalization yet, the analyst said.

“We expect strong sales volume growth for NIO from 2H thanks to new model launches,” he said.