All about: HK stock exchange

This article will discuss the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange on the Asian continent, based in Hong Kong, China. Founded in 1891, the exchange is ranked as the third largest in Asia in market capitalisation and is behind Shanghai and Tokyo. Its combined market capitalisation value is estimated at 2.7 trillion US dollars.

History

From its establishment in the late nineteenth century (as the Association of Stockbrokers in Hong Kong), the HK stock exchange took part in a number of merger deals and acquisitions. It changed its name to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1914, before expanding after the Second World War as it developed a monopoly in the China stock market and internationally. By 1986, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange opened up a new trading hall, which included 249 companies and a market capitalisation of 245 Hong Kong dollars. Following the introduction of CCASS (Central Clearing and Settlement System) in 1992, the Chinese enterprise Tsingtao Brewery began listing its H shares onto the exchange. By November 1999, the government-created Tracker Fund of Hong Kong was introduced to the exchange, following a major financial crisis in the Chinese markets and Asia in 1997. In the year 2000, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange took ownership of the Hong Kong Securities Clearing Company, the Futures Exchange and The Stock Exchange as it expanded further. In March 2011, Hong Kong extended its morning hours from 9.30 a.m. to midday and its afternoon hours from 1.30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Trading methods

Hong Kong often trades stocks at prices which are the equivalent to HK$4 per share, even to familiar companies. A stock is not considered one pence unless it prices correlates to around 0.5HK$. Meanwhile, limit orders have a special close-in price which needs to be no more than 24 ticks from current prices. Brokers can impose stricter regulations if a major international company, such as a bank, required an order limit of within 25 ticks of a current price. Hong Kong was also the first exchange to develop a computer trading system in the mid 1980s. By the 1990s, the exchange also introduced an ‘Automatic Order Matching and Execution System’, later replaced by the AMS/3 (third generation system) in 2000. Source:
Hkex.com.hk (Index)