Hong Kong’s stock market index compiler refrained from tweaking the city’s benchmark gauge after its quarterly review, keeping the membership unchanged for a second time this year. It adjusted the technology index and another tracking top Chinese enterprises.
The number of Hang Seng Index stocks will remain at 82, Hang Seng Indexes Company said in a statement on Friday, repeating the act in its February review of the blue-chip constituents. The firm did not provide any reason for the decision.
Semiconductor and electronics equipment maker ASMPT benefited from the review after the stock was added to the 30-member Hang Seng Tech Index at the expense of Ping An Healthcare and Technology. The changes will take effect after the close of trading on September 6.
The index compiler, a subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank, has been trying to boost Hang Seng Index’s representation by expanding the pool to 100 stocks eventually, following the biggest revamp in 2021. Its family of indices were tracked by money managers overseeing US$65.8 billion at the end of 2023, it said.
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Hong Kong’s stock market has lost about 11 per cent since hitting the peak this year in late May. Investors are growing impatient with Beijing’s slow approach to policy stimulus, and support measures have failed to live up to economists’ expectations.
Meanwhile, investors in Asian courier firm J&T Global Express and private tutoring group New Oriental Education and Technology were also rewarded, as both stocks will become part of the 50-member Hang Seng China Enterprises Index. China’s top artificial intelligent software firm SenseTime and JD Logistics will be ejected at the same time.
Replacing JD Logistics with J&T was “unexpected, as both companies have similar market capitalisation, yet trading in JD Logistics is more active” by more than three times, said Louis Wong, executive director of Phillip Capital Management in Hong Kong, citing stock exchange data.
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J&T Global’s shares fell 0.2 per cent to HK$6.81 on Friday before the announcement. The stock has tumbled 56 per cent this year, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 8.6 per cent. New Oriental jumped 1.1 per cent to HK$54.25, while SenseTime was little changed at HK$1.11. JD Logistics jumped 22 per cent to HK$9.49.
