Dubbed the "anchor" of the benchmark Hang Seng Index, Tencent knocked Facebook off the pedestal to become the fifth-largest company worldwide in terms of market value on Nov 21.

This came after the Shenzhen-based company beat rival Alibaba Group to break through the $500 billion (425.4 billion euros; ￡377.1 billion) market capitalization barrier on Nov 20 - the first to do so on the Chinese mainland and across Asia, rubbing shoulders with industry titans Apple, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

Tencent shares rose by 2.4 percent to finish at another high of HK$430 ($55.05) after peaking at HK$439.6 in the morning session on Nov 21 - taking the four-day gain to more than 12 percent.

The tech giant, which made its mark with its popular WeChat social media service, added roughly $11.5 billion in market capitalization during trading on Nov 21. Its $522.8 billion market valuation is chasing just behind Amazon and has overtaken Facebook to rank fifth in an elite club of the world's top six businesses to have reached the market cap milestone of $500 billion.

First listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2004, the 19-year-old company's shares have more than doubled in price this year, putting the benchmark Hang Seng Index on course to become the world's best-performing gauge.

Bolstered by Tencent's rally on Nov 21, the Hang Seng extended its winning streak to a third straight session, up by 1.9 percent, or 557.8 points, to close at a 10-year high of 29,818.1 points after crossing the 29,000-point threshold on Nov 17.

"With more than twice the share price this year and a market capitalization of over $500 billion, Tencent stands as an 'anchor' of the Hang Seng Index," says Fielding Chen Shiyuan, Hong Kong-based Asia economist at Bloomberg Intelligence. "The market just wonders how far it will go to hit another new record high, and how much further gains the Hang Seng Index is set for on the back of such a tech behemoth."

The meteoric rise of Tencent's share price was buoyed by its new mobile game, Glorious Mission. It was made available to a section of the public for testing on Nov 21, with more than 30 million preregistrations.

The new game is expected to take the baton from top-grossing mobile game King of Glory, also known as Honor of Kings, to become the next growth engine for the social-media and gaming giant.

sophia@chinadailyhk.com

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/24/2017 page25)