Hong Kong’s efforts to draw foreign investment are beginning to yield results, according to the finance minister, who highlighted the city’s stock exchange leading the world in initial public offerings (IPOs) during the first half of the year, along with strong market performance.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po stated on Sunday that the progress made in the first six months reflects the success of the government’s recent promotional initiatives.

Highlighting the growing interest in locally listed tech stocks, Chan pledged to ramp up international outreach efforts to help investors gain a clearer understanding of Hong Kong’s strengths and growth prospects, South China Morning Post reports.

“The stock market posted an 18% gain last year. And the momentum continued to improve as we entered 2025,” he stated.

“The market is generally optimistic about the performance of the Hong Kong stock and IPO markets in the second half of the year.”

In addition, Chan revealed that recent figures show Hong Kong raised HK$107 billion (US$13.6 billion) through 42 IPOs in the first half of the year, making its stock exchange the global leader in total funds raised. He also noted that this amount already surpasses the entire IPO fundraising total for 2024 by 22%.

“The number of applications for IPOs in Hong Kong is also increasing rapidly. So far about 200 applications have been received, including companies from the Middle East and Southeast Asia,” he said.

“That means the stock market boom is attracting more businesses to speed up their listing plans here. It also means that the publicity work in mainland China and overseas has gradually shown results.”

The benchmark Hang Seng Index has climbed roughly 20% so far this year, outpacing both mainland Chinese markets and the US S&P 500, despite the latter reaching record highs.

Chan attributed Hong Kong’s strong market performance largely to increased investment in technology and innovation-driven stocks.

He also noted that exchange-traded products (ETPs) played a role in boosting the Hang Seng Index’s strong performance during the first half of the year.

Hong Kong currently has over 210 exchange-traded products (ETPs) listed. Chan stated that as of May, the total assets under management for these ETPs had nearly reached HK$510 billion, representing a 30% increase since 2020.

ETPs, which include exchange-traded funds (ETFs), are market-traded financial instruments that track underlying securities, indexes, or other financial assets. The city launched its first local ETF back in 1999.