Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) will allocate five-digit stock codes in the range of 30000 to 32499 for new Callable Bull/Bear Contracts (CBBCs) to be listed on or after 13 May 2008 to cater for the strong interest of investors and issuers in CBBCs.  This follows the successful implementation of five-digit stock codes for Derivatives Warrants (DWs) listed on or after 7 April 2008. 

The rising level of market interest in CBBCs is reflected in this month’s new CBBC listings, which have reached a record high of 137.

HKEx announced previously that all new CBBCs listed on or after 3 November 2008 will be allocated stock codes within the range of 60000 to 69999 (see the 23 January news release for more details). However, as a major information vendor has yet to complete preparations for the use of five-digit stock codes between 33000 and 99999, HKEx will as an interim measure assign codes in the range of 30000 to 32499 for new CBBCs to be listed on or after 13 May 2008.

Full details of the latest updates to HKEx’s stock code allocation are at:http://www.hkex.com.hk/eng/newsconsul/hkexnews/2008/documents/scap.pdf.

Also, for all CBBCs to be listed on or after 13 May 2008, a new Chinese short name format will be used to help investors more easily differentiate CBBCs from DWs (see the 14 April news release for more details).