The Hang Seng Index Company is expanding its tracking of technology assets this year, "bringing the biotechnology index overseas" and continuing to advance its target of 100 blue-chip stocks

The Hang Seng Index underwent reforms in 2021, aiming to increase the number of constituent stocks to 100. The CEO of the Hang Seng Index Company, Wu Wanwen, stated that this is an ongoing process, preferring to prioritize quality and gradually add stocks at the right time, hence there is no specific timetable. The most important aspect of the Hang Seng Index is to reflect the Hong Kong stock market, meaning whether the representation is sufficient. Currently, there are 88 constituent stocks in the Hang Seng Index, which account for over 60% of the total market capitalization of more than 2,000 stocks in the entire Hong Kong stock market. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is consulting on a proposal to standardize the number of shares per lot for securities trading, reducing the current more than 40 types to only 8 types. When asked if this would affect index compilation, she stated that there would be no impact, explaining that when calculating the index, a company's market capitalization is considered, which includes the number of shares issued, share price, and circulation coefficient (how many shares are circulating in the market). Therefore, according to that formula, adjustments in lot sizes only affect trading volume. This Year Will Focus on Technology-Related and Income-Themed Products The development direction of the Hang Seng Index Company this year includes expanding the asset management scale tracking technology-related indices, continuously expanding the biotechnology index, actively promoting product innovation, and advancing business development in overseas markets to bring capital flow back to Hong Kong. She further explained that the company will focus on deepening products related to technology and income themes this year. Given that the company is market-oriented, in the current interest rate reduction environment, investors are looking for income products. Last year, the company launched the Hang Seng High Dividend Yield 30 Index ETF. Additionally, there is hope to bring the Hang Seng Biotechnology Index overseas, as the Hong Kong IPO market is also filled with biotechnology companies. Cross-market development is also a direction for this year, with plans to launch more ETF Connect (Exchange-Traded Fund interconnection) related indices, meaning that 60% of the index will be allocated to Hong Kong stocks and 40% to other markets. The company plans to focus on U.S. stocks, and currently, there is one Hang Seng Hong Kong-U.S. Technology Index included in the ETF interconnection. Besides the U.S. market, the company is researching other countries, but ultimately it must meet the needs of investors or fund companies. She mentioned that domestic investors are interested in thematic products, while overseas or local markets differ. Among Asian regions, the ETF market in South Korea is more mature and accepts new concepts more quickly, so the company may bring the concept of covered call ETFs related to technology there. As for countries with less participation in the Hong Kong market, such as Japan and Canada, the company mainly discussed the technology sector with these markets last year. The Hang Seng Index Company currently has 150 ETF products spread across 17 different exchanges, with about half of the products in the mainland market and the other half from overseas markets, including Hong Kong. Last year was a breakthrough for technology indices; since the DeepSeek incident at the beginning of last year, overseas investors have been continuously paying attention to the development of Chinese technology stocks. The company also hopes to bring back the demand of foreign investors concerned about Chinese technology stocks through these different ETFs. The Hang Seng Dual Technology Index was launched last month, and the weight of the two indices may be adjusted in the future The Hang Seng Index Company launched the Hang Seng Dual Technology Index at the beginning of last month. The index combines the constituent stocks of the Hang Seng Technology Index and the Hang Seng Biotechnology Index in a fixed ratio of 75% and 25%, respectively. Lin Yingting, the product director of the Hang Seng Index Company, stated that there are two overlapping stocks in the Hang Seng Technology Index and the Hang Seng Biotechnology Index, so the Hang Seng Dual Technology Index has only 58 constituent stocks. There is a possibility of adjusting the ratios of the two indices in the future, as the company reviews the number of constituent stocks every quarter and the calculation methods of each index annually to keep up with market developments. Last year, both the Hang Seng Technology Index and the Hang Seng Biotechnology Index recorded their largest annual increases since their launch, at 23.5% and 64.5%, respectively