Glonghui, April 28 | Guotai Junan Securities published a research report stating that it maintains the target price for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at HK$430 and continues to give it an “increase” rating. The bank believes that the China Securities Regulatory Commission announced cooperation measures with Hong Kong and the direction of the US dollar interest rate cut cycle is expected to increase, driving the company's revenue growth from 2024 to 2026, thus maintaining the company's earnings estimates of 22.2 billion, 24.3 billion and 26.9 billion HK$26.9 billion, and net profit of HK$13.1 billion, 14.7 billion and HK$16.6 billion. According to the bank, the decline in investment income has put pressure on performance, mainly due to the decline in contract prices, the margin size shrinks. The company's investment income for the first quarter of 2024 decreased by 12.57% year-on-year to HK$1,342 billion. Among them, margin and exchange fund investment income fell 18.15% year-on-year to HK$807 million. The decline was mainly due to lower margin requirements due to lower contract prices in the first quarter of 2024, and the average margin size decreased due to reduced payments from futures settlement companies and LME Clear settlement participants. The average capital amount of Hong Kong Clearing Corporation and LME Clear decreased by 25.47% year-on-year to HK$18.46 billion. In the context of the year-on-year increase in US dollar interest, the net return on investment of margin and clearing house funds increased by 0.16 percentage points to 1.75% year-on-year.