Alibaba says it's open to market homecoming

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group said on Friday that it has always wanted to float shares in China when the time is ripe, following media reports saying it is contemplating a secondary listing in its home market.

The development came as the securities regulator works to encourage new-economy companies to raise capital at home through novel measures.

"As long as conditions permit, we will return (to the A-share market)," the tech titan said in an email reply to China Daily on Friday. "We've made such declarations on the day our shares were floated in the United States, and that hasn't changed."