Hong Kong's stock market stayed afloat Friday despite a wave of lock‑up expiries from major listings, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) analyst Timothy Pope.
Lock‑up expiries occur when restrictions on early investors selling shares after IPOs are lifted, often adding volatility to trading.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 0.60 percent to close at 24,175.12 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained 0.52 percent to 8,039.19. The Hang Seng Tech Index slipped 0.21 percent to 4,721.66.
Pope noted the market's resilience, pointing out that the Hang Seng finished the week up about 3.5 percent even as lock‑up releases pressured individual stocks.
"Hong Kong's markets definitely in strong shape on Friday. The Hang Seng [Index] closed 0.6 percent higher but was up around 3.5 percent for the week as a whole, I think. The market really stayed afloat through a wave of lock-up expiries. This week we had the two big ones -- Knowledge Atlas and MiniMax. They were initially doing okay. Knowledge Atlas in particular managed to gain in the wake of 6 percent of its outstanding shares being released for sale this week, but today it was down 19 percent. Minimax was down both days as well. This was always going to be a tougher one because 45 percent of the company's outstanding shares came out of lockup all in one go. Today it fell 9.6 percent. This week also saw the market debut from Apple contractor Luxshare, and its secondary listing in Hong Kong. Today it was up 1.5 percent. That strong IPO pipeline in Hong Kong as well really has set the index on a strong run despite the volatility that we are seeing on the Asian markets recently," said Pope.
Hong Kong stocks hold firm despite mass lock-up expiries
