(Reuters) -Shares of Chinese autonomous driving firms WeRide and Pony Ai dropped sharply on Thursday as the companies started trading in Hong Kong, after raising nearly $1.2 billion combined in their listings. Pony Ai shares slid nearly 11% in early trading after it raised about $863 million, while WeRide opened down about 8%. WeRide raised about $308 million. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.5%. The weak performance follows a softer trading session in New York for the companies' shares on Wednesday. WeRide shares lost 5.2% on Wednesday in the U.S. while Pony Ai's stock was down 2%. Electric vehicle maker Seres Group made a soft debut in Hong Kong on Wednesday when its shares closed flat, after earlier falling by as much as 10%. It was down 2% on Thursday. Hong Kong has overtaken New York and Nasdaq as the global top venue for new listings this year, excluding special purpose acquisition companies, LSEG data showed, with $31.2 billion raised so far, nearly tripling the listing value from the same period in 2024. (Reporting by Kane Wu and Scott Murdoch; Additional reporting Jiaxing Li; Editing by Kim Coghill and Christopher Cushing)
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