HONG KONG, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited on Thursday announced it will launch Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area)-related composite index on May 21.
"Hang Seng Stock Connect Big (Greater) Bay Area Composite Index" aims to reflect the performance of companies that are listed in Hong Kong and/or the Chinese mainland and that mainly operate in the Greater Bay Area, it said.
The index will have 250 constituents companies and the index universe includes Stock Connect eligible Hong Kong-listed stocks and mainland-listed A-shares that mainly operate in the Greater Bay Area.
Daniel Wong, director and head of research and analytics at Hang Seng Indexes, said the Greater Bay Area is an economically important region that is attracting growing international interest and recognition.
He believed the nine cities and two special administrative regions in the Greater Bay Area each have their own particular economic characteristics, and more development and cooperation in the Greater Bay Area may result in greater prosperity.
From a geographic perspective, 99 of the 250 constituent companies have Shenzhen as their main base of operations. Shenzhen has the heaviest weighting in the index at around 48 percent. Hong Kong ranks the second with 26 percent of weighting and 64 companies, and Guangzhou ranks the third with 8 percent of weighting and 43 companies.
In terms of industry distribution, financials, properties and construction, consumer goods, and information technology account for the majority of the index weighting, at 31 percent, 20 percent, 17 percent and 13 percent, respectively. The index includes 146 companies operating in these four industries, with a combined weighting of 81 percent.
The Greater Bay Area is a theme that is of increasing interest to investors and the launch of the index is responding to this new market development, Wong said.
Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited will continue to observe Greater Bay Area development and plan, with the aim of identifying the potential for launching a variety of thematic indexes, he noted.
The launch of a series of Greater Bay Area indexes will facilitate the market to develop index-linked products, and further integrate the real economy and finance to help drive the economic progress of the Greater Bay Area, Wong said.
