Alibaba, Xiaomi to join Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index

[HONG KONG] E-commerce conglomerate Alibaba, handset maker Xiaomi and WuXi Biologics will enter the Hang Seng next month, broadening Hong Kong's traditionally financial services-dominated index.

The change announced by the Hang Seng Indexes Company on Friday was made possible after the 50-year-old benchmark's publisher changed the rules on shareholder structure and secondary listings in May.

China's largest financial hubs are revamping key indexes to give more weight to internet companies, which are increasingly important to its economy.

Alibaba and Xiaomi, along with delivery platform Meituan Dianping, will also join the 'H-share' Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which represents Chinese companies listed in the city.

Changes to both indexes are effective Sept 7.

About US$19.7 billion of assets under management in exchange-traded products were linked to the Hang Seng Index with another US$5.4 billion tied to the H-share index as of July, the index provider said.

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The Hang Seng Index will drop Sino Land, Want Want China and China Shenhua Energy, while Sinopharm, BYD and Citic Securities will leave the H-share index.

REUTERS