The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong has organised an Internet investment challenge cup for university students in Hong Kong, encouraging them to learn how to apply their knowledge of investment strategies in stock options trading. The competition is in addition to the public Internet investment game in traded options and stocks, igTOPS, introduced in November.

The competition for the Millennium Inter-University Investment Challenge Cup started on January 3, the first trading day of the new millennium and will last for two consecutive months until February 28. Each participating university will be represented by a number of teams each consisting of three undergraduate students. Each team member will start with an initial fantasy capital of $1 million per month to trade stock options and their underlying securities. Deductions will be made to the account balances of team members who breach the rules of the competition.

Members of the three teams with the highest rates of return will receive prizes and the university represented by the top team will receive the Challenge Cup.

A spokesman for the Exchange said some university faculty members have expressed an interest in using igTOPS as an interactive workshop for their finance and economics students to apply theoretical concepts in a virtual environment. "They believe that this will help the students to gain a sense of what they have learned about equity and derivatives investment," the spokesman said.

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