Hong Kong urged to extend stock trading hours to keep up with rivals Hong Kong has been urged to extend its stock trading hours to maintain its status as an international financial hub, as competitors move towards near 24-hour operations to capture global liquidity. Speaking at the “Redefining Hong Kong 2026 Budget Edition” forum organised by the South China Morning Post on Monday, Kenny Shui Chi-wai, vice-president of think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, said the city should consider lengthening the stock market’s trading hours, which rivals were already doing. “In the past, Hong Kong, London and New York complemented each other to cover the global call. But nowadays, the London Stock Exchange and also the New York Stock Exchange are exploring 24-hour trading,” he said. “For the Hong Kong stock exchange, I think we also need to think about whether we need to extend our trading hours to maintain our global competitiveness and also increase our transactions.” The stock market, operated by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), currently trades for 5½ hours on weekdays, from 9.30am to 4pm, with a one-hour lunch break. That compares with four hours of trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen, five hours in Tokyo, 6½ hours in Toronto, 8½ hours in London and 14 hours in Frankfurt. Shui also suggested lowering the 500,000 yuan (US$72,500) entry requirement for mainland Chinese investors under the cross-border Stock Connect scheme to attract more capital. The “one share, one lot” trading unit should also be considered to enable more retail participation and increase the average daily turnover of the stock market, he said. “One share, one lot” means one share in a board lot trading unit. HKEX currently allows listed companies to decide their own board lot sizes, which can range from 10 shares to 10,000. After the forum, Shui told the SCMP that Hong Kong’s trading window remained brief compared with its competitors. “If the US can facilitate trade for 22 or 23 hours while other exchanges only have around five hours, it’s possible for the majority of trades to be done in the US gradually, which could impact Hong Kong’s turnover in the long run,” he said. The Nasdaq stock exchange, home to tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, earlier applied to the US Securities and Exchange Commission to extend trading hours to 23 hours per day, five days a week, up from 16 hours a day. The New York Stock Exchange will extend trading to 22 hours on weekdays, with full implementation expected to take place in 2027. The London Stock Exchange is also considering 24-hour trading. Shui said extending the trading hours not only meant maintaining the competitiveness of Hong Kong as an international financial hub but also increasing market liquidity. “Chinese investors all over the world are likely to be more familiar with mainland companies, and the place mainland companies are most often listed is certainly Hong Kong,” he said. “If we could extend the hours, Hong Kong will hold a certain attraction for those investors, and we will see a positive impact on the turnover.” He added that longer trading hours could also allow the market to reflect the impact of global events as they happened and traders to respond more quickly. The public coffers would also benefit as more transactions would result in more stamp duty, he said. “There is no need to jump to 24 hours all at once. We can choose to relax the hours by a few hours first; if it proves feasible and manageable, we can then expand further,” he said. “We could also look at which specific products should have their trading hours extended … if we want to control the risk, we could start with just stocks or ETFs and exclude derivatives.” In Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget last month, HKEX and the Securities and Futures Commission were tasked with lifting stock trading vibrancy through reforms. https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3346018/hong-kong-urged-extend-stock-trading-hours-keep-rivals?pgtype=live (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post