Business

Hong Kong’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged lower from 3.5%  in the period from October to December 2022 to 3.4%  between December 2022 and January 2023, recording the ninth consecutive improvement from last year.   The underemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage points to 1.4% from November 2022 to January, with the number of the underemployed persons decreasing by 3,200 to 52,100, while the number of unemployed decreased by 7,600 to 118,400. The unemployment rate of the retail sector and the food and beverage sectors declined by 0.4 and 0.1 percentage points to 4.2% and 4.9% respectively. The unemployment rates of other sectors line lined in general. Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has kept a steady downward trend since  May 2022 as the city recovers from the epidemic alongside border reopening between Hong Kong and China, said Chris Sun Yuk-han, the Secretary for Labor and Welfare.  “The unemployment and underemployment situation continued to improve,” said Sun. Amid the fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic in early 2022, retail, accommodation and food service was the most affected industry, with its unemployment rate hitting 10% in the period of February to April 2022, according to the Census and Statistics Department. Vera Yuen Wing-han, an economics lecturer at the University of Hong Kong, said that Hong Kong's service industry had to shut down extensively before border opening as the consumption level was low. Moreover, Hong Kong's local labour market has been troubled for a long time by the shortage of labour, especially in the service industry, Yuen added. “The recruitment advertisements hang all the time but few people apply for the vacancies,” Roy Chan, the human resource manager of 616 Catering Management Limited said.  The staff shortage in the catering industry is a common phenomenon especially for the full-time staff. “We prefer the full-time staff …

    Hong Kong stocks pulled back on the third trading day of the Year of the Rabbit, also the settlement date of HSI futures, after a week-long Lunar New Year break in mainland China. The Hang Seng Index opened 109 points lower this morning and dipped 2.7 percent, or 619 points, to 22,069.73 at the close of Monday trading, with a turnover of 203.25 billion. “The Hang Seng Index will experience profit-taking after hitting an 11-month-high, also the futures index is settled on today, which caused market fluctuations,” wrote Sam Chi-Yung, a Certified Financial Consultant of Patrons Securities, on Facebook.   CRIC Securities Company Limited announced yesterday that the transaction volume of mainland real estate during the Lunar New Year fell by 14 percent year-on-year, leading to weakness in mainland real estate stocks. Country Garden (2007) slumped 8.3 percent to HK$2.97 while Longfor Group (0960) declined 5.7 percent to HK$26.60. The Hang Seng Mainland China Property Index overall downed 4.7 percent. Property management stocks fell correspondingly. Country Garden Services (6098) slid 5.92% to close at HK$21.45. The Hang Seng Technology Index dropped 4.8 percent amid profit-taking after two consecutive days of rising.  Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd. (0241) sank 8.0 percent to HK$7.05, while Alibaba (9988) and Tencent Holdings Ltd. (0700) dropped 7.1 percent to HK$109.00 and 6.7 percent to HK$387.20 respectively. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index decreased by 3.6 percent. Mainland enterprise stocks Haidilao (6862) and Sands China Limited (1928) decreased by 6.85 percent at HK$21.75 and 5.56 percent at HK$28.85 respectively. The blue chips backed the stock market. A CICC research report, based on the data provided by Informa Financial Intelligence Company EPFR, revealed that overall net inflows of the overseas active funds into Hong Kong Stock market have been recorded for three consecutive weeks as …

Investors in China have been in a weak market sentiment since China’s securities regulator ordered the two major online brokerages Futubull and UP Fintech, also known as Tiger Brokers in Asia, to rectify their business last month. Futu Holding Limited and UP Fintech Holding Limited have conducted cross-border securities businesses involving domestic investors without regulatory consent and will be banned from opening new accounts and soliciting new clients, said China Securities Regulatory Commission in a statement on Dec 30, 2022. Existing Chinese investors can still trade via the brokerages but additional fund transfers through unlawful channels to their accounts will be banned. “The sudden regulation brought uncertainty to my wealth, and I therefore chose to move my funds and not to use these two platforms anymore,” said Allen Liu, a two-year user of Futubull and Tiger Brokers, adding that the government action affected his investment portfolio and caused some losses. Ge Chenming, a cross-border securities investor on Futubull and UP Fintech, said that he suffered a sudden loss of CN¥160,000 (about HK$185,000) because of the fall in the US and platform stocks after the regulation. “After the shut-down of these platforms, I have had difficulties buying US stocks because my English is poor and foreign platforms are hard for me to understand, ” Ge added. Shares of Futu and UP Fintech, both listed on Nasdaq, slumped around 30% to a one-month low at US$37.84 (HK$296) and US$3.20 (HK$25), respectively, one day after the announcement of CSRS. As of 26 Jan, the prices of Futu and UP Fintech have increased by more than 44% and 31% year-to-date, though both prices are still below the levels before the regulation. CSRC said it was illegal for Futubull and Tiger Brokers to provide investors with overseas stock speculation services, including stock trading on Hong …