--- title: "The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited announced! Witnessing history once again." description: "The Hong Kong stock market opened higher and continued to rise, with the Hang Seng Index breaking through and stabilizing above 17,000 points, while the Hang Seng Tech Index surged 3.6%, accumulating " type: "topic" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/topics/20722429.md" published_at: "2024-04-24T14:43:09.000Z" author: "[郭二侠说财](https://longbridge.com/en/profiles/7334)" --- # The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited announced! Witnessing history once again. The Hong Kong stock market opened higher and continued to rise, with the Hang Seng Index breaking through and stabilizing above 17,000 points, while the Hang Seng Tech Index surged 3.6%, accumulating an 8.2% gain over three days. Among them, Meituan (3690.HK) rose over 17% in three days this week, reclaiming the HKD 110 mark and hitting a new high since November 23, 2023; Tencent (700.HK) gained over 12% in three days, reaching HKD 340, a new high in more than nine months; Kuaishou (1024.HK), Bilibili (9626.HK), and JD.com (9618.HK) all saw cumulative gains exceeding 10% over three days. However, it's worth noting that with four trading days left before the five-day Labor Day holiday in mainland China, Hong Kong stocks will trade normally except on May 1st, as Hong Kong does not observe holiday adjustments. This means there will be no support from northbound capital during this period, and short-term funds may sell off and adopt a wait-and-see approach before the holiday. Data shows that southbound capital turnover reached HKD 37.1 billion on April 23, accounting for one-third of the Hong Kong stock market's total turnover. **As of April 24, northbound capital has recorded net inflows for 18 consecutive trading days, with cumulative net purchases for the year increasing to HKD 204.5 billion.** Northbound capital now plays a crucial role in the Hong Kong stock market. That's why, after the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced new cooperation measures with Hong Kong last Friday, the market rallied so strongly, posting three consecutive days of significant gains. It's been a long time since Hong Kong stocks have shown such resilience. If the rally continues tomorrow, I believe naive investors will rush in to chase the momentum. Two major developments have recently occurred in the Hong Kong stock market. First, **on April 12, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced that the proposed new treasury share mechanism had been approved and would take effect on June 11. Under the new rules, shares repurchased by listed companies in Hong Kong can be retained as "treasury shares" instead of being canceled. Previously, repurchased shares had to be canceled.** The treasury share proposal received feedback from 56 market participants, with 52 supporting the removal of the mandatory cancellation requirement for share buybacks. A closer look reveals that these supporters are mostly sellers who stand to benefit from the change. Buy-side institutions like BlackRock and Fidelity opposed the move, but the HKEX dismissed their objections, finalizing the decision. Instead of learning from the better practices of the U.S. stock market, Hong Kong is quick to adopt the A-share market's approach of not canceling repurchased shares. However, after the recent leadership change in the A-share market, there have been calls to "guide listed companies to cancel shares after repurchases." Hong Kong's move seems counterintuitive, reminiscent of the puzzling decision in 2021 to increase stamp duty to offset fiscal revenue losses amid the pandemic, which hurt the market. Investors should keep a close eye on companies announcing buybacks to see whether the repurchased shares will be canceled or retained as treasury shares for future sales or executive incentives. In reality, Hong Kong doesn’t need this change. Its refinancing and share issuance processes are already much simpler than those in the A-share market, requiring only board approval for capital raises or equity incentives. Second, tonight, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) officially announced the approval list for spot virtual asset ETFs, with products from ChinaAMC (Hong Kong), Harvest International, and Bosera International included. ![Image](https://pub.pbkrs.com/uploads/2024/bb8d94118c15f7eebe9860a9fac58573?x-oss-process=style/lg) **The ETFs are scheduled to launch on April 29, 2024, and list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 30, marking the first such products in the Asian market. The Ethereum spot ETF will be among the first globally.** Both products aim to provide investment returns closely tracking the spot prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Compared to holding physical cryptocurrencies, Hong Kong's spot crypto ETFs offer advantages such as regulatory approval, listing on traditional exchanges, professional management by fund companies, and partnerships with regulated crypto exchanges. They bridge the gap for traditional institutions to allocate virtual assets, significantly expanding access for mainstream and retail investors while reducing technical and operational risks associated with self-managed wallets and private keys. The standout feature of Hong Kong's spot virtual asset ETFs is the world's first in-kind subscription and redemption mechanism, allowing investors to use Bitcoin and Ethereum directly to subscribe to ETF shares. This is expected to attract crypto investors looking to convert their holdings into ETF products, potentially driving more global capital into Hong Kong. $TENCENT(00700.HK) $MEITUAN(03690.HK) $JD-SW(09618.HK) ### Related Stocks - [00388.HK - HKEX](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/00388.HK.md) - [00HSI.HK - Hang Seng Index](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/00HSI.HK.md) - [07200.HK - FL2 CSOP HSI](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07200.HK.md) - [02800.HK - TRACKER FUND](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/02800.HK.md) - [07300.HK - FI CSOP HSI](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/07300.HK.md) - [00700.HK - TENCENT](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/00700.HK.md) - [80700.HK - TENCENT-R](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/80700.HK.md) - [TCEHY.US - Tencent](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TCEHY.US.md) - [TCTZF.US - Tencent Holdings Limited](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/TCTZF.US.md) - [03690.HK - MEITUAN](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/03690.HK.md) --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.