HKEX File Photo

Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) reported better-than-expected results in the first half of the year, raking in record-high business revenue and profit, despite global market fluctuations and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The half-year total revenue in 2020 sets a new record for HKEX, rising 2 percent year-on-year. Core business revenue was up by 13 percent and Stock Connect revenues also increased 46 percent compared to the same period last year to a total of HKD$743 million ($95.87 million). 

Net investment income fell HKD$681 million, primarily due to the fair value losses of collective investment schemes in the first quarter.

HKEX attributed the growth to a furry of big listings and rising market turnover. 

Hong Kong's IPO market is ranked second in the world by number of IPOs for the first half of 2020, and was in third place globally by the amount of funds raised through IPOs. The average daily numbers of trading (ADT) in the Stock Connect also reached record half-year highs, totaling HKD$20.7 billion in southbound and 74.3 billion yuan ($10.74 billion) in northbound trading. 

The significant number of IPOs and increase in income were notably held up by a slew of secondary listings from Chinese mainland-based companies. 

In June, shares of China's e-commerce giant JD.com rose 3.5 percent in its secondary listing in Hong Kong, raising $3.87 billion. The second listing of NetEase, a Chinese internet giant, pushed its share prices up by over 5 percent on the first day of trading in Hong Kong during the same month. 
 

Global Times