HKEx builds on success of night trading session
Exchange plans to add three more futures and extend trading amid warm investor response
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing plans to add yuan futures and two index mini- futures to the night session early next year and extend trading to midnight to match trading time in the United States.
The new plan was formulated after the exchange collected brokers' views on the first six months of night trading, which began in April.
The 5pm to 11pm night trading session, combined with the regular six hours of daytime trading, has allowed investors to trade standard futures contracts on the benchmark Hang Seng Index and the H-share index for 12 hours a day, but that is still well short of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's 23 hours.
The exchange said the review found that 140 out of 179 futures brokers traded during the night session, with 37 per cent of the trading volume coming from retail investors and the rest from market makers and institutional investors.
This showed the night session was "well received" by retail investors, it added.
To further improve trading, the bourse said it would add mini-HSI futures and mini-China index futures - both popular with retail investors - to night trading early next year. It also plans to introduce yuan currency futures to the night session to bolster the city's status as a yuan trading centre.
The three products are now traded during regular daytime hours only.