Editorial | It’s time to align Hong Kong’s trading days with the mainland’s

Money never sleeps in Hong Kong, except during some public holidays. The city is known for having many official days off. Often stock trading stops while other markets, including the one in mainland China, continue on their merry way of making money. In recent years, however, the city’s stock exchange has been enhancing its services during traditional non-trading days.

The next step, hopefully, will be to align holiday trading on Stock Connect with the mainland. Hong Kong’s stock market is already dominated by Chinese companies, which account for around 80 per cent of its capitalisation.

Since 2022, a large number of futures and options can be traded during holidays. Currency futures and options were included in March last year. The Hong Kong exchange has also moved to enhance the trading calendar for the Stock Connect programme, on both the northbound and southbound routes, to allow investors to trade on all days when both the mainland and Hong Kong markets are open.

The Stock Connect, which links stock trading in Hong Kong with Shanghai and Shenzhen, enables a cross-border, two-way investing flow. It has offered more opportunities in Hong Kong for mainland investors and easier mainland access for international investors.

Last year, the northbound and southbound average daily turnover was 150 billion yuan (US$20.7 billion) and HK$48.2 billion (US$6.2 billion), respectively, accounting for around 6 per cent and 18 per cent of the total turnover of the mainland and Hong Kong markets.

The path forward is clear. More local holidays, though not all, can be open for trading. Christian holidays such as Easter and Christmas can be included since they are normal working days on the mainland. Additional trading days on the calendar can ease market disruptions caused by a mismatch in holidays, which has frustrated fund managers on both sides of the border.