Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) announced today (Friday) that its information business subsidiary, HKEx Information Services Limited, has signed an agreement with each of the companies listed below (the service providers) for provision of real-time basic prices from HKEx’s securities market at the six designated websites.
Service Providers (in alphabetical order by region)
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Hong Kong
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AAStocks.com Limited
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www.aastocks.com
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ETNet Limited
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www.etnet.com.hk
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Oriental Press Group Limited
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www.on.cc
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Mainland
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Beijing Sohu New Media Information Technology Co., Limited
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www.sohu.com
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China Finance Online Co. Limited
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www.jrj.com.cn
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Tencent Holdings Limited
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www.qq.com
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The Free Real-time Basic Market Prices Website Service (or Free Prices Website Service) will be soft-launched next Monday, 5 October in both Hong Kong and the Mainland. The trial version of the new website service will be available at the designated websites for investors to access real-time basic prices from HKEx’s securities market free of charge from the soft-launch date. The service will be officially launched on 1 January 2010 under a pilot programme that will last till the end of December 2011. HKEx plans to review the pilot programme in its latter stage to determine whether and, if so, in what form the service should be continued after 2011.
The main objectives of the new website service are to expand dissemination of Hong Kong securities market information and raise the Hong Kong securities market’s profile in the Mainland. HKEx believes that the free service will benefit investors and therefore be welcomed by the market.
The real-time market data content provided under the Free Prices Website Service comprises:
- Turnover value and volume of all securities traded on the Stock Exchange; and
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High/low prices of the day of all securities traded on the Stock Exchange.
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“The Free Prices Website Service is designed to provide an additional delivery channel for Hong Kong securities market data. The service will be complementary to existing channels and market data services provided by HKEx-licensed real-time information vendors and help provide a greater variety of information services to meet different needs of investors,” Bryan Chan, HKEx’s Head of Information Services, said.
The attachment below provides answers to some possible questions about the new service.
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Existing dissemination channels will not be affected by the new service. Any party satisfying the licensing requirements can still apply for a vendor licence from HKEx and provide market data services to investors. Indeed, there are now more than 120 real-time market data information vendors, including eight Mainland companies, collectively offering more than 700 securities and derivatives market data services. Market data services offered by the Mainland information vendors include streaming real-time securities market data provided on the Internet.
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The new service will initially be offered for two years to enable HKEx and the market to get familiar with the new service, and for HKEx to better understand its impact on the market in general and the other market data services currently provided by licensed information vendors in particular. HKEx has committed to closely monitor market reaction to the new service and review the service no later than the last six-month period of the two-year pilot period to decide whether and, if so, in what form the service should be continued.
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HKEx believes the basic snapshot price data that will be available under the new service are not readily substitutable for the great variety of information services being offered by existing information vendors. HKEx believes the impact on the business of existing information vendors and HKEx’s information income should be insignificant.
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HKEx also believes that the new service should be beneficial to the Hong Kong securities industry as the service will help build greater interest in the Hong Kong market, particularly among Mainland users.
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Nominal price/closing price and last trade price for all securities traded on the Stock Exchange;
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- Indicative Equilibrium Price, or IEP, and Indicative Equilibrium Volume, or IEV – which are calculated during the pre-opening trading sessions – for all securities traded on the Stock Exchange;
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Turnover value and volume of all securities traded on the Stock Exchange; and
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- High/low prices of the day of all securities traded on the Stock Exchange.
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The new service does not include bid/ask quotation, market depth or broker queue information. HKEx has no current plans to extend the data content of the Free Prices Website Service.
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