After Chinese stocks end another year as worst performers globally, mainland investors eye Hong Kong market
- For Hong Kong investors, stocks listed in the city remain top investment choice, according to Hong Kong Investment Funds Association survey
- Hong Kong respondents allocated only 19 per cent of their assets for offshore investment, including 8 per cent for mainland China markets, in 2018
Investors in the Chinese stock market, the worst performer globally for a second straight year, are keen to diversify assets and consider Hong Kong as their top overseas investment destination, according to a survey released by the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association, a non-profit-making industry organisation, on Sunday.
Mainland Chinese investors are also more keen on investing in the Hong Kong stock market, rather than the other way around, the association said.
China’s thriving bonds, plus hopes for investment reform, trade talks and stimulus should hearten investors in 2019
Capital outflows from China picked up in 2018, as the trade war with the United States weighed on its economy, crimping corporate earnings. Funds are trapped in China, the world’s second-largest economy, in large part due to stringent capital controls.
The HKIFA interviewed 1,026 residents online in the region covered by the “Greater Bay Area” scheme, including 411 from Hong Kong, 200 from Guangzhou, 207 from Shenzhen and 208 from Zhuhai. The Chinese government’s Greater Bay Area scheme aims to integrate Hong Kong with 10 other cities in the Pearl River Delta into an economic and business hub. The respondents were aged between 18 and 55, with either HK$300,000 (US$38,292) or 300,000 yuan (US$43,686.5) or above in liquid assets.
Based on their current investments and excluding the property market, respondents from Guangdong province (where the cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Zhuhai are located), on average, allocated 33 per cent of their assets for offshore investment in the third quarter of 2018, of which 12 per cent went to the Hong Kong market.
In contrast, Hong Kong respondents allocated only 19 per cent of their assets for offshore investment, of which 8 per cent went to mainland China markets.