Monthly statistics from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx) demonstrate that turnover in the market is still driven by the biggest brokerages, despite a small uptick in share of trading by smaller brokerages.
The market share of the smaller brokerages has gone up in recent months to 11.24%, but the going has been difficult for Hong Kong’s hundreds of smaller brokerages and a approximately a dozen have closed their businesses this year. The bottom 200 brokerages have found survival a tall order, as retail investors, on whom they rely for business, have not been busy in the markets.
In the ‘Stock Exchange Participants’ Market Share Report’, HKEx splits its exchange participants into three segments, the top fourteen, numbers 15 to 65 and lastly, everyone else.
Then HKEx calculates how much market share each group accounts for.
In August 2013, the fourteen biggest firms accounted for between 1.88% to 7.38% of market turnover. Their aggregate tally was 54.27%.
Positions 15 to 65 accounted for a combined 34.49%. Everyone else, the smaller brokers, amassed a total market share of 11.24%, therefore an improved market share for the small fry.
One year ago, the respective market shares of the three groups were 59.8%, 30.47% and 9.73%. HKEx says that it does not identify the names of the companies in each segment.
The average daily turnover in July 2013 was HK$ 52,031 million and in August, that figure increased to HK$ 54,988 million. Market turnover is up 2% on a year ago.