The new share index named The Hang Seng Tech Index was launched recently, and officially went live last Monday. It is home to some of Asia’s major tech firms such as Alibaba, JD.com and Tencent.
The top 30 tech companies located in Hong Kong will be listed, making a trade into the regions’ brightest tech stars that much easier.
With the current uncertainty surrounding Chinese tech firms within the US, the most dire example of this being that of Huawei, and more recently TikTok, many Chinese and Hong Kong located firms are exploring different listing options. By choosing to access International capital via listings on China and Hong Kong indexes, the tech giants of Asia are now shunning US stock market listings. This will allow local companies access to foreign capital without the intrusion from the US.
The Hang Seng Tech Index is more specialised and hopes to move away from the Hang Seng Index which is dominated by more traditional banking, and energy firms etc. The Hang Seng Tech Index will focus on larger tech companies that have their hands in e-commerce, fintech, and any other online related companies.
Big Asian IPOs to come
The Ant Group, a fintech company responsible for Alipay, which is the affiliate arm to the very successful Alibaba will use the Hong Kong and Shanghai indexes for its initial public offering and then moving onto the Hang Seng Tech Index. The IPO of Ant Group being offered exclusively within the Asian markets shows China’s caution with the US. Tensions between the two have increased recently with the closure of consulates in both Chengdu and Texas.
The Hang Seng Tech Index aims to rival the US NASDAQ, similar to China’s Star market and with its recent release, it should make waves among the worldwide trading scene.
With the continued confidence and growth behind tech stocks globally, the prized tech giants of Hong Kong definitely make this one index to keep an eye on.