Bank of America Securities reported that the fundraising scale of Hong Kong IPOs in the first eight months of this year remained sluggish, with a year-on-year drop of 5% to approximately 19.8 billion yuan. During the period, a total of 43 companies were listed through IPOs, compared to 39 in the same period last year. Although the recent large IPOs from the mainland in September and the expected IPOs in the fourth quarter of this year are expected to result in a fundraising scale exceeding last year's level of 46 billion yuan, the bank expects this year's fundraising scale to reach 90 billion yuan, still below the 105 billion yuan in 2022, and the 300 billion to 400 billion yuan level from 2018 to 2021.

The bank stated that the recent or upcoming large IPOs all come from the mainland. In most cases, the issuers have already been listed on the A-share market, and the listing of H-shares by the related companies may cause investors to shift from the A-share market to Hong Kong due to valuation differences and exchange rates, slightly contributing to the trading volume in the Hong Kong market. Despite the mainland's encouragement of more leading companies to list in Hong Kong in April to support the Hong Kong market, there have been no new IPO plans announced by major Chinese companies after the disclosed IPOs from last year.

Regarding Alibaba's (09988.HK) inclusion in the Stock Connect on September 10, in the first four trading days, apart from the higher trading volume on the first day, accounting for 4% of the total trading volume in Hong Kong, or 24% of the total southbound trading volume, Alibaba's trading volume through the Stock Connect accounted for 1% to 2% of the total trading volume in Hong Kong, or 6% to 13% of the total southbound trading volume, consistent with the bank's prediction in May.

However, Bank of America Securities cannot confirm whether the 'additional' trading volume comes from new funds from China or from southbound investors transferring positions from other internet companies to Alibaba. The bank believes that in the short term, the impact of a single stock on the overall market trading volume may still be limited. The bank maintains a 'buy' rating for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, estimating a positive impact on trading volume from the upcoming rate cut, and a target price of 298 yuan for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.