Didi shares soared as much as 14% in U.S. premarket trading Friday after the company announced plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and pursue a listing in Hong Kong instead.
Shares of the Chinese ride-hailing giant have been hammered by regulatory woes in its home country ever since its initial public offering in the U.S. earlier this year.
The stock is down about 40% from its initial listing price.
Neil Campling, global TMT analyst at Mirabaud Equity Research, told CNBC that Didi shares were likely surging due to technical reasons.
Short sellers — who bet on the price of a stock sinking — may choose to exit their positions with buy orders rather than play the waiting game, according to Campling.
