Hong Kong to attract new batch of key enterprises: financial chief

HONG KONG, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government Paul Chan said on Sunday that the HKSAR government's Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises will announce next month a list of more than 10 enterprises that will establish a foothold in Hong Kong.

These enterprises are from the Chinese mainland, the United States, Europe and other places, with more than half of them specializing in artificial intelligence and big data. Some of them are leading enterprises in their fields.

Chan said that entering the fourth quarter of 2024, the overall market atmosphere has improved significantly. From September to last Friday, the average daily turnover was about 192 billion HK dollars (about 24.72 billion U.S. dollars), which was double of that in August.

Chan said that the continuous reform and innovation of Hong Kong's listing system over a past period of time have enhanced Hong Kong stock market's attractiveness and vitality.

In 2018, Hong Kong allowed pre-revenue/pre-profit biotechnology companies, and new economy companies with different share structures, to list in Hong Kong.

There are more than 330 new economy companies listed in Hong Kong. Although they only account for about 30 percent of the listed companies, their total market value exceeded 9.6 trillion HK dollars, accounting for more than 26 percent of the total market value of Hong Kong stocks and accounting for nearly 23 percent of the average daily trading volume of Hong Kong stocks. This has brought the Hong Kong stock market to a new level.

Last year, Hong Kong further introduced a special listing rule for specialist technology companies to support these companies to raise funds.

These reforms have made Hong Kong a preferred listing destination for many tech companies, Chan said.

At the end of this month, Chan will lead a delegation from the financial and innovation sectors to the Middle East to promote Hong Kong's latest development as an international financial, trade and innovation center, Hong Kong's unique advantages and functions under "one country, two systems," as well as new opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Belt and Road Initiative. (1 HK dollar equals 0.13 U.S. dollars)