Capitalizing on the rapid development of Chinese economy, Hong Kong has become an important international financial center and is widely regarded as one of the fastest growing export-oriented economy in the Asia-Pacific region. In recent years, Hong Kong has successfully attracted enterprises from all over the world to list their companies here, especially Chinese enterprises. The market weighting of state-owned and privately-owned enterprises has increased gradually in the equity market, which suggests a growing impact of mainland Chinese economy on the development of Hong Kong stock market.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index is composed of 64 constituent stocks, representing about 60% of total market value coverage in Hong Kong. The constituents stocks are grouped under different sectors such as Finance, Telecommunications, Properties, Utilities and so forth, contributing more than 46% of daily aggregate market turnover.
Trading is conducted on Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays) at the following times:
Pre-opening Auction Session
Pre-opening Session 9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Continuous Trading Session
Morning Session 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Afternoon Session 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Closing Auction Session
Closing Auction Session lasts between 8 to 10 minutes
All shares traded in Hong Kong are settled on the second trading day after the transaction date (T+2). In comparison to other stock markets in different neighboring regions, Hong Kong has less trade restrictions such as investors can immediately sell shares purchased on the same trading day, and the stock market is free from interventions such as suspension and limitation on price fluctuations.