The Hang Seng Index will have its quarterly review this week but investors are not expecting any membership changes, given the uncertainty in the market and a lack of suitable candidates for inclusion.
Brokerages have marked mainland developer China Resources Land and container terminal operator Cosco Pacific as most likely to be added and removed respectively, if a change must be made.
Index compiler Hang Seng Indexes is scheduled to announce the review findings after the market close on Friday.
'The composition right now does not warrant any immediate need for change,' said Ben Kwong Man-bun, the chief operating officer at KGI Asia. 'And while the market seems to be okay now, there is still a lot of uncertainty ahead, so it may wait a while.'
The basis for blue-chip status is primarily derived from a company's market value and trading liquidity. CR Land has the highest combined ranking of the two possibilities among non-members, making it the most likely stock to join the Hang Seng Index, according to Goldman Sachs.
Meanwhile, Cosco Pacific had the lowest market capitalisation among benchmark members and was ranked 91st overall among main-board stocks, according to data from a Nomura report last month.