Weekly Market Summary

💡1. The amount of money deposited in Hong Kong’s banks jumped in the first nine months of this year as investors targeted a series of hotly-anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs) in the city according to stockbrokers. Total deposits, in local and foreign currencies, grew 3.4 per cent to HK$15 trillion (US$1.9 trillion) at the end of September, data from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) showed on Friday. The increase was the result of strong demand for a string of stock flotations during the period. 

💡2. Standard Chartered, one of Hong Kong’s three currency-issuing banks, said its profit more than tripled in the third quarter as it benefited from double-digit gains in its financial markets and trade businesses and lower provisions for potential soured loans banks. The London-based lender, which generates much of its revenue in Asia, said its credit impairments declined by 70 per cent to US$108 million, reflecting a similar trend reported by its banking rivals during the quarter. Standard Chartered took provisions of US$2.3 billion for all of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic weighed on economic activity. The emerging-markets-focused bank’s pre-tax profit was US$996 million, beating a consensus estimate of US$942 million, and an improvement over the US$435 million it reported a year earlier. On a net basis, earnings rose to US$644 million versus US$161 million a year ago.

💡3. More Hong Kong-based expats are buying properties in their home countries or other overseas markets, boosting the number of transactions by 30 to 40 per cent this year, according to agents and bankers. The number of persons employed by companies whose parent firms are located outside Hong Kong has fallen to 473,000 this year, down 4 per cent from the peak of 493,000 in 2019, the latest figures from the government showed, suggesting fewer foreign-born residents in the Asian financial hub. If more expats leave the city, it will “potentially soften rentals as many expats can’t deal with the logistics of the quarantine if they have children who live out of Hong Kong, especially if they are boarding school age or have elderly parents as the quarantine makes it prohibitive to go back and forth,” said Victoria Allan

                                             ————————————————

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?” 

.

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.