Average daily turnover in the Hong Kong stock exchange decreased by 8% to HK$68,318 million compared to the same period in 2013, due to a fall in volumes of almost 20% in January.
However, March turnover at HK$ 1,476 billion was the highest monthly total for the year to date, bouncing back from HK$1,224 billion in February, and narrowly exceeding the levels of January.
New listings were a brighter spot with 25 new listings in the first three months of 2014, compared with 11 in the first quarter of last year. IPOs in the first three months of 2014 raised $46 billion, a fourfold increase over 2013.
The average daily turnover of futures and options for the first three months of 2014 was 554,700 contracts, which is unchanged on 2013 numbers. However, average daily turnover of RMB currency futures for the first quarter of 2014 was 1,238 contracts, a 200% increase year-on-year.