The Hong Kong stock market has experienced bull run since the beginning of this year, and on Wednesday, the total market capitalization hit an all-time high of 12,729.7 billion HK dollars (US$1638.9 billion).

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) said in a statement Wednesday that the Hang Seng Index reached a record closing high of 19265.32 on Nov. 23, with the H-shares Index reaching a record closing high of 9430.28 on Wednesday.

The Stock Exchange set a year-to-date turnover record of 8,142 billion HK dollars, and the average daily turnover set a year-to-date record of 33.6 billion HK dollars, according to the statement.

The derivative warrants market set a new record with a total of 2,725 newly listed derivative warrants and posted a year-to-date turnover record of 1,748.1 billion HK dollars.

New records were set in terms of total equity capital raised and Initial Public Offering (IPO) equity capital raised, said the statement.

As of Wednesday, the total equity capital raised reached 497.8 billion HK dollars, comprising equity capital raised by IPO of 325.9 billion HK dollars and post-IPO equity capital raised of 171.9 billion HK dollars.

As of Wednesday, the total number of newly listed companies was 58 (Main Board: 52; Growth Enterprise Market: 6). The number of new listings includes two companies which switched their listings from the Growth Enterprise Market to the Main Board.

Total futures and options turnover rose 61 percent from 2005 to 41,115,261 contracts, a record high.

Both Hang Seng Index Futures (HSIF) and stock options trading volume set new records in 2006. Up to Wednesday, the HSIF trading volume rose 24 percent from 2005 to 12,325,395 contracts and the stock options volume rose 97 percent to 17,168,214 contracts.

By the end of November, the total market capitalization of Hong Kong stock market had exceeded 12 trillion HK dollars, surpassing that of Germany's and ranking Hong Kong stock market the seventh largest in the world, said Frederick Ma, secretary for Financial Services and Treasure of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, on Wednesday.

(Xinhua News Agency December 21, 2006)