(Hong Kong – April 25, 2017) — Hill+Knowlton Strategies (H+K) announces the launch of a new Index that tracks attention of Chinese investors in Hong Kong-listed stocks. The H+K Chinese Investor Attention Index (the “H+K Investor Index”) brings together data from across multiple sources in Mainland China to analyze where the appetite lies for investments in Hong Kong stocks.

The analysis, powered by Farseer, H+K’s big data technology partner in Hong Kong, tracks an overall ‘attention’ score as well as the top ten stocks receiving the most attention from Chinese investors across small, medium and large capitalizations. The movers, shakers, and new entrants across each category are identified with accompanying analysis looking at what is driving any changes in sentiment. The Index also takes a deep dive into which industries are grabbing the most attention from Chinese investors.

Commenting on the inaugural release of the H+K Investor Index, Mr. KW Lam, Managing Director, H+K Hong Kong, said: “Activities of Chinese investors have become increasingly important, yet there isn’t a leading indicator that helps the market understand the changes in perceptions of China-based investors towards Hong Kong-listed stocks. The new H+K Investor Index combines our expertise with advanced data analytics to offer our clients and the industry greater insight at a time when communicating with Chinese investors is critical, even for small-cap companies.”

The inaugural report draws on historical data from across the past five quarters, including more than 3.2 million news articles, more than 300,000 forum discussions, and 30,000+ research reports by financial institutions, and reveals that attention of Chinese investors in Hong Kong-listed stocks reached a 15-month low of 93.5 in March 2017 (against an index base of 100 in January 2016). This score indicates a high likelihood that the Hang Seng Index will continue to exhibit receding momentum through April.

Other key findings from the H+K Investor Index include:

  • There are 13 stocks which were repeatedly ranked top ten stocks that received the most investor attention across the five quarters covered in the research period. Five out of these 13 stocks are in the small-cap category of less than HK$10 billion in market capitalization, including Goldwind Science (2208.hk), Shenwan Hongyuan (218.hk), and Angang Steel (347.hk).
  • Large-cap stocks captured the most investor attention. Some 80 large-cap stocks of more than HK$50 billion in market capitalization, or about 4% of the 1,900+ stocks covered in this analysis, captured 31% from the research reports, 25% from the media articles and 23% of the attention from mentions in Xueqiu.
  • Investor attention was highly concentrated among only a handful of industries. The top five industries in the universe of Hong Kong-listed stocks that received the most investor attention during the research period were property, banking, automobiles, pharmaceuticals and insurance.
  • Tencent (700.hk), Geely Automobile (175.hk), and China Unicom (762.hk) were among the top 10 most watched large-cap stocks across the five quarters.
  • Fosun Pharmaceuticals (2196.hk), ZTE Corporation (763.hk), and Great Wall Motor (2333.hk) were among the stocks getting most attention in the mid-cap stocks.

Mr. Stanley Chan, Farseer’s co-founder and CEO, commented: “We attribute the successful launch of this index to H+K’s rich industry expertise and insights. As a financial technology company, Farseer’s focus has always been on enriching its Big Data and artificial intelligence applications. The launch of the H+K Chinese Investor Attention Index not only marks a milestone for us, but also vindicates our belief that a closer, longer-term collaboration with the financial ecosystem can achieve a better overall development of the industry.”

Email [email protected] to sign up for H+K Investor Index updates.

-Ends- 

For further information, contact:

KW Lam at [email protected] / +852 2894 6218

Peter Chan at [email protected] / +852 2894 6211 

Notes

Methodology

H+K Chinese Investor Attention Index (the “H+K Investor Index”), is derived from counting the number of mentions of Hong Kong stocks in media articles, Xueqiu (China’s largest online investment forum for individual investors) and research reports published by financial institutions. Weightings are applied to each of these three data sources according to Analytic Hierarchy Process. This analysis covered more than 3.2 million news articles in over 500 media outlets, more than 300,000 discussions by close to 70,000 active users in Xueqiu; as well as more than 30,000 research reports published by over 150 financial institutions, over a period of 15 months from January 2016 to March 2017.

Overlaying the H+K Investor Index with the benchmark Hang Seng Index during the 15-month research period, the H+K Investor Index is found to exhibit a strong leading positive correlation with the momentum of the Hang Seng Index. For a given month when the H+K Investor Index moves in an opposite direction as the month-on-month (MoM) percentage changes of the Hang Seng Index, the momentum of movement of the Hang Seng Index in the subsequent month, as measured by MoM percentage changes, will reflect the direction of the H+K Investor Index of the preceding month. For example, in February 2016 when the H+K Investor Index was on a steep ascending trend while the Hang Seng Index was declining, the momentum of movement of the Hang Seng Index mirrored this steep ascending trend in March 2016. 

About Hill+Knowlton Strategies

H+K Hong Kong is a full service communications agency, and one of the Territory’s premiere agencies for both Hang Seng-listed companies and those planning to list. Enhancing shareholder value and relationships with the investment community and financial media for more than four decades, H+K’s dedicated financial communications team has a strong track record advising on M&A, IPOs, restructurings & bankruptcies and other capital market transactions.

About Farseer

Farseer is a fast growing Asia-based big data & artificial intelligence (“A.I.”) financial technology company, offering cloud solutions (“SaaS”) with global 24/7 access. Our proprietary A.I. technologies, along with the SaaS & decades of our teams’ financial & technology experience, empower us to work seamlessly with clients to deliver tailored & bespoke products & services with workflow automations. Farseer envisions close collaborations with the financial ecosystem for a betterment of overall future industry development. To find out more, visit www.farseerbi.com or email [email protected].