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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) released its performance report for the first half of 2023 on Wednesday. Despite global market uncertainties, both revenue and net profit reached the second-highest levels ever, trailing only H1 of 2021.

HKEX’s first-half revenue and other income amounted to HK$10.6 billion (US$1.35 billion, 9.8 billion yuan), an 18-percent year-on-year rise, primarily driven by main business revenue of HK$9.7 billion, up by 5 percent. Notably, net investment income also improved, turning around from a net loss of HK$380 million in the previous year to an HK$820 million profit.

New listings saw 33 companies debut in the first half of 2023, surpassing the 27 in the same period in 2022, although total fundraising dropped by 9 percent to HK$17.9 billion.

The Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect program displayed some vigor, with daily trading volumes of over 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) heading north and about a third of that heading south.

During the release of the report HKEX CEO Nicolas Aguzin addressed the challenging IPO situation. The global IPO market had been quiet, he said, but while factors like inflation and interest rates were moving in the right direction, a turnaround was hard to foresee.