Senior government officials from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region expect the equity and gold trading market in the SAR will sustain development momentum in the Year of Horse, as the city pledges to implement market infrastructure reforms.

“The year 2025 represents the best performance of the Hang Seng Index in terms of points and magnitude in the Year of Snake, with the benchmark index rising nearly 6,500 points, up 32 percent. IPO (initial public offering) and follow-on fundraising were both robust. Market liquidity improved markedly, and sources of capital were highly diversified,” said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po at a ceremony on the first stock market trading day of the Year of Horse on Friday.

Looking ahead, the SAR government will uphold an open and fair market environment, promote market reform, improve market infrastructure and development, and manage and respond to various risks effectively, the finance chief added.

“We will continue to promote market reforms, such as reviewing the 'dual-class share structure' framework to attract more future innovation and technology companies to list in Hong Kong,” he said.

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Chan noted that accelerating technological advances in areas such as artificial intelligence, life sciences, and quantum computing have profoundly impacted the development and valuations of stock markets.

To strengthen Hong Kong's competitiveness as a leading financing platform, the SAR government will work with regulators, exchanges, and the industry to explore new initiatives to enhance market development, enrich product offerings, and improve trading mechanisms, such as developing a connected depository management system for bond and equity investments, as well as promoting mutual access to cross-product, cross-market, and cross-sectoral collateral.

“From attracting more domestic and international issuers to list in Hong Kong, to promoting cross-listing of overseas Exchange Traded Funds, and to deepening and expanding the stock connect mechanism continuously, all these will bring greater liquidity to Hong Kong's capital market,” Chan noted.

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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) Chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing said 488 companies are queuing for listing as the SAR has implemented various reforms to ensure high-quality corporate listing in the city.

“Twenty-four companies have been listed to-date with IPO proceeds of HK$87 billion ($11.1 billion). Last year's average daily stock market turnover reached a record-high at nearly HK$250 billion, but this January's average daily turnover exceeded HK$278 billion, with recent trading days even surpassing HK$300 billion, reflecting the effectiveness of various liquidity enhancement measures,” Tong said.

As international investors'  asset allocation needs are not limited to stocks, but also extend to bonds, currencies, and commodities, HKEX hopes to build a complete ecosystem covering products, trading, settlement, data, and information services that can expand the market size and bring more growth opportunities to the Hong Kong's financial market, HKEX Chief Executive Officer Bonnie Chan Yi-ting noted.

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Apart from the bond and equity market, the SAR government is also devoting resources to develop the city as a fully-fledged international gold trading center. The vision is to establish Hong Kong as a regional gold reserve hub by expanding its gold storage capacity to over 2,000 tons within three years, thereby developing a comprehensive industry chain in the gold trading industry in the segments of investment and trading, derivatives, warehousing, insurance, trade and logistics.

“The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau has established a wholly-owned company as the governing body for the gold central clearing system, with the goal of commencing trial operations this year. There are currently 15 London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses operating in Hong Kong and we will support the industry to establish more approved warehouses,” Under Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Joseph Chan Ho-lim said.

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The administration is actively promoting the establishment or expansion of gold refineries by gold merchants in Hong Kong. “We have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shenzhen Municipal Financial Regulatory Bureau to support Hong Kong gold merchants in using gold refining facilities established in Shenzhen through trade-processing cooperation and exporting refined gold to Hong Kong for trading and delivery purposes.” Chan noted.

The Hong Kong Gold Exchange Chairman Haywood Cheung Tak-hay added: “The Shanghai Gold Exchange's participation in the newly-established gold central clearing system in Hong Kong will help improve the reliability of delivery, and the interconnection of the gold markets between the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong is just around the corner."

“We estimate more than 10 Hong Kong and mainland institutions will become members of the Hong Kong Gold Exchange this year. More refineries and gold traders from the mainland will come to Hong Kong to develop their businesses and expand overseas through Hong Kong's platform,” Cheung said.