HKEX’s Market Statistics Pointed Lower in April, Securities Plunge

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX), a Hong Kong-based stock exchange and one of the largest in Asia, has released its April 2017 market statistics, which saw its securities and derivatives turnover pointed lower.

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One of the strongest components of HKEX’s market statistics for the first four months of 2017 were across its derivatives volumes, which notched an average daily turnover of futures and options of 763,773 contracts – this reflected a decrease of -2.7 percent year-over-year from 784,873 contracts in the same period in 2016.

Relative to the month prior, HKEX also saw its average daily turnover climb on a month-over-month basis in April 2017, a tepid increase of less than 1.0 percent from 759,988 as of March 2017. Total derivatives market turnover was lower in April 2017, coming in at 777,576 contracts, vs. 768,083 contracts in March 2017, or -1.2 percent month-over-month.

Looking at its securities turnover, HKEX saw a more pronounced decline in April 2017. More specifically, the exchange disclosed a reading of $1.26 trillion, falling -33.3 percent month-over-month from $1.89 trillion in March 2017. One of the biggest culprits for the decline was the difference in the number of trading days, with April having 19 compared to 23 in March.

Another factor corroborating this trend was a more muted decline in terms of average daily volumes across its securities segment, with HKEX inking a figure of $74.2 billion in April 2017, down only -9.7 percent month-over-month from $92.1 billion in the month prior.

Finally, one of the group’s fastest growing segments, its RMB currency futures, also experienced a monthly decline, posting a reading of only 100.0 average daily contracts in April 2017, declining -18.0 percent month-over-month from 122.0 contracts per day in March 2017.