Chapter 1152: Hong Kong stocks rise

As someone who has always positioned himself as the big boss behind the scenes, Xia Yu does not like to be in the public eye, nor is he keen on being in the news.

This attitude of his has led to an unspoken rule within the media empire of the Jiuding Consortium, which is to avoid reporting news related to Xia Yu as much as possible.

However, this time, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is opening, and in order to lay a more solid foundation and a higher starting point for Hong Kong, he has to make even greater efforts.

According to the plan, the entire opening ceremony will have five processes.

The first process is Liu Tianci, as the chairman of the Stock Exchange, introducing the various situations of the exchange and giving a speech.

The second process is Governor So Hang-kin giving a speech on behalf of the Hong Kong government.

The third process is Xia Yu giving a speech as a representative of the business community.

The fourth process was ribbon cutting.

The fifth process was unveiling the plaque to announce the official opening.

From the position of this speech, it is clear to the discerning eye that Xia Yu's status is above that of Governor of Hong Kong, So Hang-kin.

In this regard, Governor of Hong Kong, So Hang-kin, who had already leaned towards Xia Yu, had no comment.

After Su Xingjian had delivered a five-minute speech of expectations and blessings, Wang Qi, the host, once again took to the stage. After briefly thanking Governor Su Xingjian, he said in a high-pitched and enthusiastic voice: 'Next, let's give a warm round of applause to Mr Xia Yu, who will give a speech on behalf of the Hong Kong business community!'

'Clap, clap, clap...'

As soon as Wang Qi finished speaking, the entire audience burst into thunderous applause. No one, whether they were members of the audience or the tycoons present, failed to applaud.

Amidst the enthusiastic applause and the attention of the crowd, Xia Yu got up from the VIP seat in the middle of the first row and walked with a calm and steady pace to the centre of the stage.

When he picked up the microphone, he didn't say a word, and the thunderous applause quickly died down, the scene became very quiet, and everyone looked at Xia Yu with burning eyes, waiting for his speech.

Seeing this scene, many bigwigs in the audience were secretly amazed, exclaiming at Xia Yu's great prestige and influence.

Xia Yu revealed a smile and said aloud,

'Distinguished guests and friends, I am Xia Yu, and good morning to everyone!'

'I am honoured to be able to speak at this historic moment as a representative of the Xiangjiang business community.'

'As we all know, Xiangjiang's financial market now ranks second in Asia, second only to the island country. This is something to be proud of!'

'But looking at the world as a whole, Xiangjiang's financial market is not in the front line, and there is still a huge gap from the island country's financial market, which is number one in Asia. This means that Xiangjiang's financial market still has a long way to go.'

'But being behind is not terrible, what is terrible is not having the heart to strive and forge ahead!'

'Fortunately, Hong Kong has many people of insight. With the full support of the political and business communities, and after two years of trials and tribulations, the Hong Kong United Stock Exchange has overcome numerous difficulties and finally reached this point. This process has been blessed by the right time, the right place, and the right people...'

'For more than two years, the Hong Kong financial market has been constantly fixing its shortcomings. Today, it has finally ushered in the day of harvest!'

'...'

'The opening of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a perfect ending to the work of the past, and also a new beginning for Hong Kong to become a global financial centre in the future!'

'I firmly believe that with the support of all of us, the Hong Kong financial market, with its sound financial system, will one day shine in the world.'

'The future of Hong Kong will be infinitely glorious!'

'Thank you!'

'Great!'

'Well said!'

'Clap, clap...'

After Xia Yu bowed to express his gratitude, the audience once again broke into loud applause and cheers.

What they valued was the attitude of the stock god towards Hong Kong and its financial market.

The stock god Xia Yu could be said to be a banner for the financial and business communities in Hong Kong. His huge confidence in Hong Kong naturally influenced countless people to strengthen their belief.

I don't know how many people secretly decided that the Hong Kong stock market was about to explode and that now was the time to bring their capital in again.

Next, Xia Yu personally participated in the ribbon-cutting and plaque unveiling ceremonies.

After the unveiling, there was a deafening noise of gongs and drums, and firecrackers were set off.

By 10 o'clock, before the market opened, the hall of the United Stock Exchange was packed with people, and the assembled investors looked up at the huge electronic screens hanging around.

All of Hong Kong's financial investment institutions were ready.

Xia Yu and the others went up to the second floor and waited to witness the moment when the United Stock Exchange opened.

As soon as ten o'clock struck, the stock market officially opened!

Countless huge amounts of capital rushed into the market, heading for the trading of the stocks of the hundreds of listed companies on the trading board, pushing the Hang Seng Index to jump 3.27% at the opening, from 13,080 at the end of last week to 13,500!

And the Hang Seng Index continued to rise.

Having witnessed this rise first-hand, all the stock investors in the exchange were beside themselves with excitement.

However, there are after all hundreds of listed companies, and their popularity and potential naturally vary, and each investor's views are different.

Therefore, although there was an almost across-the-board rise as soon as possible, there were still a large number of sell orders hanging out, and the stock market trading volume has been soaring.

When the market closed, the Hang Seng Index was fixed at 1,386 points, and the total trading volume for the day reached more than HK$1.94 billion!

This shows just how crazy investors were!

The trading volume in the morning alone almost reached the full-day trading volume estimated by Bao Yugang and the others. Even they, top-level figures with a detached mindset, couldn't help but lament that they had been wrong.

By the close of trading in the afternoon, the Hang Seng Index had settled at 1,426 points.

At its peak that afternoon, the Hang Seng Index had surged to 1,437 points, only to fall back at the end of the day.

Even so, the Hang Seng Index had surged 9.02% compared to the closing price at the end of last weekend's trading!

The total trading volume for the day reached an astonishing 4.37 billion Hong Kong dollars!

Although it was not as high as the peak daily trading volume of over 10 billion Hong Kong dollars before last year's stock market crash, it was extremely impressive under the current circumstances.

After all, the average daily trading volume in the stock market over the past two months was only around 500 million Hong Kong dollars, and today it was eight times that amount.

This figure can definitely be described as a roaring start!

The Hong Kong United Stock Exchange has made a hit!

That evening, Global TV gave a big report on the situation at the Hong Kong United Stock Exchange.

Through Global TV's coverage throughout Southeast Asia, news of the Hong Kong United Stock Exchange spread around the world at a tremendous speed.

Tuesday, October 12th.

On this day, the Hong Kong United Stock Exchange was pushed to an even higher wave by investors who had rekindled their passion.

Although the Hang Seng Index did not rise very high that day, only to 1,453 points, the daily trading volume exceeded the first day, reaching 4.69 billion Hong Kong dollars.

On Wednesday, the daily trading volume of the stock market fell back, just barely maintaining the line of 4 billion Hong Kong dollars.

However, on Thursday and Friday, as the room for stock price increases for major companies became smaller, the daily trading volume of the stock market continued to fall.

By Friday, the daily trading volume had fallen below HK$3 billion, to around HK$2.86 billion. Although the Hang Seng Index had once broken through the 1,500 point mark, it ended the day at 1,492 points, which was a pity.

By the time the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had been in operation for three weeks,

the daily trading volume had stabilised at around HK$1.7 billion.

On 29 October, the Hang Seng Index reached 1,569 points.

Xia Yu could see that as the three weeks passed, institutions and investors had regained their composure, and the Hang Seng Index fluctuated around 1,550 points.

This result was already excellent compared to more than two months ago, before the SFC was established, the new Hong Kong Securities Trading Law was implemented, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was officially in operation. After all, the daily trading volume had more than tripled.

But Xia Yu was not satisfied.

In his opinion, there was still a lot of untapped potential in the Hong Kong stock market.

Before the stock market crash last year, the Hang Seng Index had risen to over 1,800 points, even without his help.

Now that the political situation in Hong Kong has stabilised and the financial market is more orderly, Hong Kong's stock market ranks second in Asia in terms of daily trading volume, but it is still six to seven times behind the island country in first place.

Ultimately, the problem is that there are not only fewer companies listed in Hong Kong, but the average quality is also inferior to that of the island countries.

The gap with the island countries is so great, not to mention the gap with exchanges in the UK, the US and other countries.

This is a fundamental problem!

It seems that something must be done to stimulate the Hong Kong stock market...