Hong Kong exchange Q3 profit drops 8% on lower trading fee

[HONG KONG] Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEX), the stock exchange operator in the Asian financial hub, on Wednesday posted an 8 per cent drop in third-quarter profit, as a surge in listing fee failed to offset the slide in income from trading.

HKEX, which scrapped its surprise US$39 billion approach for the London Stock Exchange Group in October, reported a net profit of HK$2.2 billion (S$381.4 million), down from HK$2.4 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Market sentiment in Hong Kong, which was earlier hit by the Sino-US trade war and months of often violent protests in the city, has started to pick up recently on the back of a series of large IPOs.

REUTERS