Hong Kong’s stock-market liquidity task force will hold its first meeting this week to study methods to expand capital sources and flows, attract more high-quality listings and boost efficiency and competitiveness, the city’s financial secretary Paul Chan wrote in a blog Sunday.
Lowering stamp duty on transactions isn’t enough to stimulate long-term trading, Chan wrote, citing historical data. The key “is to let investors feel optimistic about the outlook,” he said. “This depends on economic performance, company earnings, the pipeline of potential company listings and so on.”
The task force was set up on Tuesday to compile recommendations for Chief Executive John Lee on strengthening competitiveness and sustainable market development. Chan said he will travel to Europe and the US in the next few months as Hong Kong intensifies efforts to promote its advantages to the outside world. The city will also host a series of large-scale conferences.
“Misunderstandings caused by Western political prejudices have also disrupted investors’ confidence in the Hong Kong and mainland stock markets,” Chan wrote. “Many biased reports from Western media have caused the understanding among investors of Hong Kong to be skewed from the facts.”
