Hong Kong has launched The Hang Seng TECH Index, which tracks the 30 largest tech firms that trade in the city, including Alibaba, Tencent and JD.com.
Hong Kong is looking to cement its status as a base for Chinese tech, while tensions between the United States and China escalate.
City analysts dubbed the new index the “Nasdaq of the East” last week said they expected that “high quality” Chinese tech companies will likely be attracted to Hong Kong.
The debut comes a week after Hang Seng Indexes announced its creation.HSI noted at the time that the tech sector has taken on an increasing level of importance in Hong Kong as companies including Alibaba, JD.com and NetEase — all of which trade in New York — have turned to the city for secondary listings.
Jack Ma, the billionaire founder of Alibaba, recently announced plans to list its affiliate financial arm Ant Group in Hong Kong.
The Ant Group is described as the world’s most valuable unicorn – a start-up that has grown to a value of more than $1bn (£778m).
Analysts say the Hang Seng Tech index will attract investors to other Hong Kong tech stocks and look beyond the more well-known Hang Seng Index which is dominated by banks, property firms and energy companies.
The Hang Seng Tech Index will track Hong Kong-listed companies that have high business exposure to selected technology themes, including the internet, fintech, cloud, ecommerce and digital activities.
