CK Chow struck a cautious note at the start of the week when revealing the Hong Kong Exchange’s annual results. With average daily turnover down 37 per cent, the exchange chairman’s wariness was understandable as he talked of a “challenging” outlook and volatile markets.
Yet such caution is out of step with the mood. Hong Kong’s blue-chip Hang Seng and China-focused Hang Seng China Enterprises indices are among Asia’s best performers in 2017. Their rallies mark the first positive start to a year for either benchmark since 2012.
The Hang Seng has risen 7.9 per cent, while the HSCEI has climbed 9.5 per cent. Trading volumes in the past month are running a fifth above last year’s average, and block trades — a sign of institutional investor appetite — have picked up sharply.