Media365
Hong Kong’s financial markets on Friday greeted the Year of the Horse with a mixed response, with stocks and gold moving in different directions on the first trading day of the year.
Markets reopened on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, with the Hang Seng Index falling 1 per cent in early trading and gold advancing 0.2 per cent to HK$46,518 (US$5,964) a tael (37.9 grams).
Hong Kong Gold Exchange (HKGX) chairman Haywood Cheung Tak-hay said the exchange would team up with AGTech Holdings, a unit of Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the South China Morning Post, to develop an international precious metal trading and clearing platform. He did not give details.
“The HKGX has met over 30 mainland and international gold firms to explore their possibility of becoming members of the exchange,” Cheung said at a ceremony to mark the first trading day of the Year of the Horse.
The Year of the Snake was a very good year for both stocks and gold. The Hang Seng Index rose 32 per cent, the best in eight years, while gold gained 81 per cent, the most on record.
