Hong Kong’s stock exchange beat profit estimates in the third quarter as investment income increased and trading volumes rebounded.
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd.’s net income rose 30% to HK$2.95 billion ($517.7 million) in the quarter, according to a statement on Friday. The result beat a HK$2.8 billion estimate in a Bloomberg survey of analysts. Core revenue, excluding investment income, was up 9% during the period.
The exchange has been struggling this year amid a decline in trading and dearth of initial public offerings, even as rising interest rates have boosted investment income. Trading saw improvements in the quarter, but is still down for the year.
“Despite challenging global markets, these results reflect HKEX’s resiliency, the purposeful ongoing diversification of the business, our active management of costs and the team’s resolute focus on the execution of our strategy,” said HKEX Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Aguzin in the statement.
Average daily trading of equity products at the bourse rose 4% in the quarter from a year earlier, but was down 9% in the first nine months. The average daily trading on Stock Connect northbound in the quarter increased 10%, while southbound trading jumped 32%.
In the first nine months, the exchange saw 47 IPOs, raising a total HK$24.6 billion, which was down 67% from the year-earlier period.
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“Going into the fourth quarter there are early signs of renewed activity in the global fundraising market,” HKEX said in the statement.
