Hang Seng Indexes to shake up Hong Kong benchmark, add new constituents

[HONG KONG] Hang Seng Indexes has proposed changes to the main Hong Kong stock index which would further shake up an index historically focused on finance and large, often real estate-focused, conglomerates.

The changes come as the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong continues to attract listings from large technology companies, including secondary listings by companies already traded in the United States such as Netease and KFC China operator Yum China.

The proposals, outlined in a consultation paper published on Tuesday, include increasing the number of constituents of the Hang Seng Index to as many as 80 from the current 52, and shrinking the weighting cap on individual constituents to 8 per cent from the current 10 per cent.

As of November, insurer AIA, tech giant Tencent and HSBC made up just shy of 30 per cent of the benchmark.

E-commerce conglomerate Alibaba , handset maker Xiaomi and biotech WuXi Biologics were added to the index earlier this year after a May rule change concerning shareholder structure and secondary listings.

REUTERS