Hong Kong stocks and gold start the Year of the Horse on a mixed note

Hong Kong’s financial markets on Friday greeted the Year of the Horse with a mixed response, with stocks and gold moving in different directions on the first trading day of the year. Markets reopened on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, with the Hang Seng Index closing 1.1 per cent lower at 26,413.25, and gold advancing 0.6 per cent to end the day at HK$46,685 (US$5,985) a tael (37.9 grams). Hong Kong Gold Exchange (HKGX) chairman Haywood Cheung Tak-hay said the exchange would team up with AGTech Holdings, a unit of Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the South China Morning Post, to develop an international precious metal trading and clearing platform. He did not give details. “The HKGX has met over 30 mainland and international gold firms to explore their possibility of becoming members of the exchange,” Cheung said at a ceremony to mark the first trading day of the Year of the Horse. The Year of the Snake was a very good year for both stocks and gold. The Hang Seng Index rose 32 per cent, the best in eight years, while gold gained 81 per cent, the most on record. Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) hosted a ceremony to mark the occasion with a lion dance and other activities in the HKEX Connect Hall, the former trading floor of the exchange until 2017. “I remain cautiously optimistic for the year ahead as the previous three Years of the Horse all reported rising markets with double-digit percentage growth,” said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po at the ceremony. “Like a fine horse, our market will continue its resilience and vigour despite all the external challenges.” Chan said the exchange would continue to initiate reforms to support innovative and high-growth companies and international firms to list in the city, as well as add fixed-income and other asset classes to strengthen Hong Kong’s standing as an international financial centre. HKEX, which will announce its full-year results on February 26, is expected to report stellar earnings as a result of higher income from new listings and rising turnover. HKEX chairman Carlson Tong Ka-shing said the exchange had already seen 24 initial public offerings (IPO) raising HK$87 billion so far this year, while the listings pipeline had grown to 488 companies. “Looking ahead, the HKEX will continue to expand fixed-income and currency trading to meet the demand of international investors,” Tong said. HKEX’s main board was the world’s largest IPO market last year, with 114 IPOs raising US$37.2 billion, according to data from LSEG Data & Analytics. The market’s average daily turnover stood at HK$272 billion in January, an increase of 89 per cent from a year earlier, according to HKEX data. HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting said the IPO funds raised so far this year had reached 25 per cent of last year’s total and that a number of international firms had applied for listings. “Many mainland [China] listing candidates have big international exposure and some firms’ international operations accounted for more than half of their income,” she said. “They are using Hong Kong’s capital market to go global.” HKGX, which was established last year to replace the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society, also hosted a ceremony to commemorate the first trading day in the Year of the Horse. The bourse trades gold in taels for the local jewellery industry and investors. Jewellery sales and gold prices are expected to continue to rise in the Year of the Horse, after a record-breaking Year of the Snake, said Brian Fung Wei-lung, CEO of HKGX. “Sales of gold jewellery may slow in the coming months as international gold prices remain volatile,” he said, adding that customers tend to adopt a wait-and-see approach when prices are high. “However, when people get accustomed to the new high price range in the second half of this year, people will return to buy gold for weddings and for investment purposes,” he said. Gold hit a record high of US$5,608 per ounce in January, before retreating to just below US$5,000 in recent days. The precious metal has risen 15 per cent this year up to February 13, after rising 64 per cent last year. Local gold prices rose to a record high in the Year of the Snake, closing the year 81 per cent higher at HK$46,425 per tael on the last trading day on February 13. In the Year of the Dragon in 2024, gold rose 35 per cent to HK$25,600 per tael, compared with 6 per cent in the preceding Year of the Rabbit and 7 per cent in the Year of the Tiger before that, according to HKGX data. “In the Year of the Snake, gold kept breaking records due to geopolitical tensions and interest-rate cuts in the US, leading investors and central banks to diversify their investments from US dollar-denominated assets to gold,” Fung said. “These factors are expected to continue to drive prices in the Year of the Horse.” The horse is the seventh animal in the 12-animal Chinese zodiac, which follows in the order of rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, representing a cycle of 12 years, according to the Chinese lunar calendar.

Hong Kong stocks and gold start the Year of the Horse on a mixed note

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Hang Seng Index fell 1.1 per cent on the first day of trading of the new year, while local gold prices rose 0.6 per cent

The Hang Seng Index fell 1.1 per cent on the first day of trading of the new year, while local gold prices rose 0.6 per cent