Weekly Market Summary

💡1. US investment bank Goldman Sachs has joined a chorus of property market observers forecasting an increase in Hong Kong home prices this year. “Given high property prices, very low interest rates but an improving economy, we expect gradual property price increases in line with household income growth for the residential market,” the bank said in a report. “We believe [an] easing of Covid-19-related border restrictions between Hong Kong and mainland China would benefit the sale of luxury residential flats, Central office take-up and retail premises’ rent.” Some industry reports, such as retail sales and brisk sales at new launches, are pointing to early signs of recovery in the city’s economy.

💡2. Global investors including JPMorgan and Fidelity will demand that five of Asia’s most polluting power generation companies cut their greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new climate change engagement programme. The group of investors, which has combined assets of $8.8tn, will target utilities in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan and Malaysia that operate large coal-fired operations. Together these power companies produced roughly 285m tonnes of CO2 in 2019, equivalent to the national emissions of Spain, according to the programme’s backers. 

💡3. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will study the feasibility of a digital currency over the next 12 months. The HKMA, the city’s de facto central bank, will include users’ privacy, security and anti-money-laundering concerns in the study, Eddie Yue Wai-man, the authority’s chief executive (CEO), said on Tuesday. The announcement came during the launch of Fintech 2025, the HKMA’s Fintech plan for the next four years. “Hong Kong people, nowadays, are more willing to use digital banking services. “The HKMA has set up a working group to study the technology and regulatory issues related to an e-Hong Kong dollar. We will have a conclusion in about 12 months.”

💡4. China’s stock market correction has given JPMorgan Asset Management a chance to buy their favourites on the cheap. To beat the market, its money managers are going for technology hardware, pharmaceutical leaders and electric-vehicle (EV) suppliers. The firm’s US$7.9 billion A-Share Opportunities Fund returned 71.1 per cent in 2020 to beat the 27 per cent advance in the broader CSI 300 Index, and ranked among the bank’s top performers in the Asia-Pacific region. This year, however, it has struggled with a 1.3 per cent gain as the rally faded and prices locked in range bound trading patterns over the past three months. 

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One of the must-ask interview questions for banking and finance is: “Have you read any news recently?”, with the follow-up questions: “How would you link this news to the market and what investment suggestions would you give to your clients based on this news?” 

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Showing your market sense and ability to provide feasible investment ideas would help to differentiate you from other candidates. Therefore, apart from the weekly news update / investment insights, we have also generated this Weekly Market Summary for you to have a quick understanding of the market development and tips to answer some hot discussion topics. Take a look of the summary and WhatsApp us in the group if you have questions.