The Hong Kong Stock Exchange released the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange 2021 Review" last Tuesday (21st), summarizing this year's work.
The most outstanding achievement of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange this year can be regarded as its trading volume hitting a new high. The average daily turnover of the spot stock market increased by 32% year-on-year, and the derivatives market rose by 3%.
Thanks to the increase in trading volume, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's profit in the first three quarters of this year reached 9.86 billion Hong Kong dollars, a year-on-year increase of 15%.
At the beginning of the year, the stock price of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hit a record high of 587 yuan.
As the Hong Kong Stock Exchange concluded, this year is an exceptionally busy year, and many new attempts have been made to actively develop its positioning as a gateway to the Chinese market.
For example, the first Hong Kong A-share derivative product launched in October will help global investors manage their investments in China and hedge their risks.
There are also small US dollar-renminbi futures contracts to further enrich investment options and help the internationalization of the renminbi, and so on.
On the other hand, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange has been actively studying the "Special Purpose Acquisition Company" (SPAC) listing system to attract more investment this year, and has announced that it will implement a new listing mechanism on January 1 of the following year.
This is obviously much more positive than the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's delay in allowing companies with "same shares with different rights" to list in Hong Kong and the result of missing out on Alibaba's IPO.
Champions League was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
(Profile picture)
Hong Kong stocks are under pressure to raise funds less than foreseen
However, although the Hong Kong Stock Exchange can be regarded as "satisfying homework" this year, the recent mainland and even the international situation still put a lot of pressure on Hong Kong's financial market.
As far as mainland China is concerned, the central government vigorously supervised the platform economy this year, and cracked down on monopoly behaviors that have put pressure on the valuation of some high-tech companies listed in Hong Kong. For example, Alibaba's stock price has been "halved" by nearly 50% this year.
On the other hand, the central government is determined to crack down on speculation in the property market, puncturing an over-expanding bubble like Evergrande Group, and affecting investor confidence in a short period of time.
On the other hand, as the Sino-U.S. struggle has heated up, the U.S. has frequently used economic means to sanction Chinese companies, including import and export bans and even investment bans. In order to avoid unknown risks, international investors, especially U.S. investors, have naturally declined their willingness to invest in Chinese companies. .
The poor performance of Hong Kong stocks this year reflects the impact of two points.
The Hang Seng Index has fallen by more than 4,400 points from this year to its lowest level in recent days, or 16.3%. The Hang Seng Technology Index has fallen by 32.7%, the worst performance among the major financial market indexes in the world.
In addition to the performance of the index, the amount of IPO funds raised in the Hong Kong market has not been as expected.
Due to the struggle between China and the United States, in recent years, there has been a trend of Chinese companies listing in the United States returning to Hong Kong to list, which has stimulated the fund-raising performance of the Hong Kong market. At the beginning of the year, an accounting firm expected Hong Kong to regain its position as the world's largest fund-raising fund this year.
Since the beginning of this year, although many Chinese companies have gone public in Hong Kong, due to the tightening of mainland regulatory policies, the number of new shares and the amount of funds raised have fallen slightly compared with last year. It is estimated that the amount of funds raised in the Hong Kong market will fall to the fourth place in the world.
These are the challenges faced by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong financial market.
The transparency of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange system is one of the reasons for attracting Chinese stocks.
(Information Picture/Photographed by Jiang Zhiqian)
Based on China, expand the world
It is true that major international events such as the Sino-U.S. struggle cannot be resolved by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange or even by the Hong Kong government.
However, the development of Hong Kong's financial industry has always been inseparable from the basic policy of "founding a foothold in China and expanding the world."
The negative impact of reforms in the Mainland is temporary.
With the economic reforms in the Mainland, more funds will be transferred from the property market to securities and other asset markets. This means that the future connection with the Mainland financial market will continue to be the fundamental driving force for the growth of Hong Kong's financial market.
Therefore, we should not "watch death" the development of the Hong Kong market just because of the momentary difficulties.
At the same time, as the door for China to open up to the outside world, Hong Kong must not only focus on the domestic market, but must strengthen Hong Kong's role as a gateway for international investors to enter the Chinese market.
Although Hong Kong cannot resolve the impact of US sanctions, Hong Kong still has room to do something internationally as the hegemony of the US dollar has faded globally and the RMB has become internationalized.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong government should strive for opportunities to develop relations with emerging financial markets. This is the right direction.
SenseTime’s listing postponed under U.S. sanctions. Hong Kong’s financial market must be well regulated under the US sanctions. Financial technology is used to promote Hong Kong’s industrial transformation and upgrading. Financial confrontation risks, on the way to economic recovery, we must be alert to another financial turmoil
