• Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw a strong debut in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, after pricing its shares at 176 Hong Kong dollars (approx. $22.5) apiece, becoming the world's largest listing so far.
• Ahead of the anticipated listing, one investor said Alibaba's move to launch its secondary listing in Hong Kong is "very, very positive."

© Provided by CNBC LLC Alibaba Chairman Jack Ma attends the Jack Ma Rural Teacher Award Ceremony on January 13, 2019 in Sanya, Hainan Province of China.

Shares of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw a strong debut in Hong Kong on Tuesday morning, after pricing its shares at 176 Hong Kong dollars (approx. $22.5) apiece, becoming the world's largest listing so far.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba surged more than 6% around the open at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN, before hitting an early intraday high of 189.50 Hong Kong dollars per share. It last traded around 7% higher than its listing price, as of 9:40 a.m. HK/SIN.

The Chinese tech titan issued 500 million new ordinary shares plus 75 million "greenshoe" options. If the overallotment option is exercised, underwriting banks will be able to sell more shares than the original amount set.

Ahead of the highly anticipated debut, one investor said Alibaba's decision to list in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is "very, very positive."

"It was always very strange that the largest Chinese company was listed exclusively in the U.S.," Mary Manning, portfolio manager at Ellerston Capital, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Monday, ahead of the the listing. Alibaba went public in September 2014, and chose the New York Stock Exchange for its debut.

Alibaba's secondary listing in Hong Kong became the world's largest offering so far in 2019 — larger than the roughly $8 billion raised by Uber in May. Still, it is expected to be beaten to the title by Saudi Aramco's anticipated listing in Riyadh in December.

The company previously said those retail shares will be priced at no more than 188 Hong Kong dollars (about $24.01).

"I applaud Alibaba for taking the step to list in Hong Kong at a time when a lot of people have lost confidence ... in what's going on in Hong Kong as a market," Manning said, referring to the widespread unrest in the Asian financial hub that has lasted for months.

For her part, Manning said she had a "big position" in American depository receipts of Alibaba shares listed in the U.S., but added that her plan was to "move the whole position" to Hong Kong over time.

— CNBC's Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.