China’s capital market regulators have announced a package of measures to boost liquidity, attract international investors and enhance competitiveness between the mainland and Hong Kong.
Switzerland’s biggest lender expects Asia to be its future growth engine after the acquisition of rival Credit Suisse last year expanded its footprint and client assets in the region, says CEO.
HSBC Gold Token, which will be available on the lender’s online banking and mobile app, is the first such retail product to be issued by a bank, according to HSBC, as the government pushes for more digital assets to be rolled out for public use.
HSBC, Standard Chartered and Hang Seng Bank are rolling out more products tied to the Wealth Management Connect scheme amid a drive by Beijing to boost the Greater Bay Area’s financial markets.
‘Hong Kong stocks posted positive returns in the past four Years of the Dragon,’ finance chief Paul Chan said on the first trading day of Lunar New Year, citing China’s improving economy and potential rate cuts as possible catalysts.
Bitcoin jumped to US$50,000 for the first time in more than two years, staging a remarkable comeback from a series of cryptocurrency industry scandals and bankruptcies that had raised questions about the viability of digital assets.
With the former president seemingly a lock for the Republican nomination, investors are preparing for a possible return to the days of the US-China trade war which steamrollered the yuan during his term in office
China’s property downturn and recent slew of defaults are unlikely to rattle overseas creditors or deter domestic banks from channelling resources towards cash-strapped developers, according to the American investment bank.
‘People are interested in India for several reasons, one is simply it’s not China,’ says Vikas Pershad, a money manager at M&G Investments in Singapore. ‘There’s a genuine long-term growth story here.’
Hong Kong and mainland Chinese banks are preparing for a new cross-border payment regime that will make it easier for Hong Kong and Macau homebuyers to transfer the funds they need to purchase property in the Greater Bay Area.
Investors should look past all the bad news and grab the bargain of a lifetime, says Asia Genesis Asset Management. ‘Risk reward is the best I have seen in 40 years of investing and trading,’ founder Chua Soon Hock says.
Dual-listed Chinese companies traditionally command higher valuations for their shares on domestic exchanges than their own shares listed in Hong Kong. That premium, currently close to the highest in 13 months, is expected to widen next year on policy tailwinds, analysts said.
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), which runs Asia’s third-largest stock market, reported strong growth in derivatives trading despite a big fall in new listings, in an indication that the bourse operator has successfully diversified its business model.
Zhang Yadong, chairman Hangzhou-based Greentown China, said an expected economic recovery and the release of pent-up housing demand would trigger a turnaround in the second half of next year.
China’s securities regulator has published draft rules aimed at slashing trading commissions for mutual funds and addressing the conflict of interest between the securities trading and fund sales businesses of brokerages, the latest reform to the US$3.8 trillion mutual fund industry.
China’s dollar-denominated corporate high-yield bonds have lost 22 per cent this year, after a 33 per cent slump in each of the past two years. Defaults by developers, once the pillar of the Asian market, are likely to persist.
High borrowing costs aren’t going away anytime soon as many countries face the challenge of reining in runaway inflation, according to central bankers attending a conference organised by BIS and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
The world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases must accelerate environmentally friendly projects if it is to transition to a low carbon economy, and this provides an opportunity for Hong Kong, says UN resident coordinator in China.
The war chest used to defend Hong Kong’s currency posted a third quarter loss but still reported strong returns in the first nine months of 2023 as robust performance in the bond market offset losses in stocks.
Shares of CICC, Citic Securities and other Chinese brokerages rallied after the regulator proposed easing the risk controls they need to put in place and said it would support mergers and acquisitions among leading players.
The government has become more active in buying Chinese stocks since August as it attempts to breathe life back into the flagging market, according to Goldman. The US investment bank says this will help engineer a rebound in equities for the rest of the year.
