Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government, on Sunday gave an overview of Hong Kong's first-quarter economy, highlighting active trading despite a market correction, strong IPO activity, and indications of improvement in the real economy.
Chan said in his blog that external factors dragged the Hong Kong stock market into a correction in the first quarter, with the Hang Seng Index down about 2 percent year-to-date.
However, he said, trading was active, with the average daily turnover in the first two months exceeding 260 billion Hong Kong dollars (about 33.17 billion U.S. dollars), up 17 percent year-on-year. Entering March, market activity increased further, with average daily turnover surpassing 300 billion Hong Kong dollars, more than 8 percent higher than the same period last year.
This reflects investors' increased asset allocation in Hong Kong amid uncertainty, not only viewing the city as a reliable safe haven but also benefiting from the mainland's stable economic growth and the influx of high-quality enterprises listing in Hong Kong, which provide abundant investment opportunities, he said.
Chan said that the IPO market continued its strong momentum from last year. Hong Kong's listing platform plays a key role in financing frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence. As of March 27, fundraising had exceeded 103 billion Hong Kong dollars, ranking first globally. Including follow-on financing, the total fundraising scale reached about 237 billion Hong Kong dollars. At present, over 500 applications are awaiting approval to list in Hong Kong.
Chan also noted that Hong Kong's real economy improved overall in the first quarter. The value of goods exports rose nearly 30 percent year-on-year in the first two months, showing strong performance.
He said that the foundation for retail recovery has become increasingly evident, with total retail sales rising 11.8 percent year-on-year in the first two months, marking the 10th consecutive month of growth. The pace of increase was faster than in the fourth quarter, suggesting gradually strengthening consumer confidence. (1 U.S. dollar equals 7.83 Hong Kong dollars)