Last Year Saw Index of GEM Drop 70% in Hong KongThe index of the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) in Hong Kong concluded at 309 points on the last trading day of December 29, 2000, a drop of almost 70 percent as compared to the 1,000 points set at the very beginning as the radix in last March.The index of GEM showed a trend of rising a few days after it was introduced into the market on March 20, 2000, and reached the highest point of 1,045 on March 27. Then it started to fall down rapidly to 600 points in last April and further down to lower than 400 points in late September, and recently saw the lowest record almost drop out of 300 points. Up to December 29 of last year, only 13 out of the 54 companies listed in the GEM still kept their share prices higher than the initial offering prices with the exception of CASH On-line Limited. So far as the business volume is concerned, it has been on the decline from over HK$10 billion at the peak in last March to HK$120 million. In the opinion of the insiders, the drop of index is mainly attributed to investors' suspect on the overestimation of webs and high-tech companies, and so the share prices showed an abnormal growth trend. Besides, the influence of the NASDAQ index also entailed the fall of GEM index of Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the GEM has raised a fund totaling HK$15 billion in one year only since its inception, ranking the first in the Asia and Pacific regions.
By PD Online staff member Deng Gang | |
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