HK residents head north for handover holiday with smooth border clearance
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South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Regulatory curbs hobble mainland China's IPOs, ceding first-half crown to Hong Kong
Mainland China's three stock exchanges had a sluggish first half, raising a third of the bounty from initial public offerings (IPOs) in Hong Kong, due to a regulatory crackdown that has hobbled fundraising since August 2023 and left the primary market in the lurch. Some 50 companies raised a combined 33.6 billion yuan (US$4.7 billion) by selling new shares on the nation's three exchanges, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That was a third of the US$13.5 billion raised on the Hong Kong stock exchange, which leapfrogged 12 spots from a year earlier to become the world's top-ranking IPO destination in the first half. 'As long as the regulatory curb remains in force, the IPO market won't return to normalcy,' said Dai Ming, a fund manager at Huichen Asset Management in Shanghai. 'But the good thing is that as a result, more good-quality companies in emerging industries will be listed going forward.' Mainland China's most valuable offering in the first half of the year was Zhongce Rubber Group, a Hangzhou-based tyre maker that drew 4.07 billion yuan by selling shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, according to Bloomberg. That was just a fraction of the US$5.24 billion that was raised in Hong Kong in May by Contemporary Amperex Technology, the world's largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles. Consumer-electronics maker Arashi Vision came in second place on the mainland, pulling off a 1.94 billion yuan offering on the Shanghai bourse's tech-heavy Star Market. Shenzhen Kaifa Technology, which makes smart metering terminals, ranked third after completing an offering valued at 1.17 billion yuan on the Beijing Stock Exchange. Holding shares of the 50 IPOs since their debuts on the mainland fetched an average return of 214 per cent, according to Bloomberg data. But those gains were inflated by regulations, as new shares were priced at around 23 times earnings in an effort to make sure there were no flops.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Huawei to open-source self-developed programming language Cangjie to rival Java and Swift
Huawei Technologies is set to open-source its self-developed programming language, Cangjie, marking the latest step in the company's pursuit of technological self-sufficiency. Advertisement First unveiled a year ago, Cangjie will be open-sourced and accessible to all developers starting July 30, Huawei announced during its annual developer conference earlier this month. Open-sourcing allows public access to a software program's source code, enabling third-party developers to modify or share its design, fix issues, or expand its capabilities. This initiative reflects Huawei's ongoing efforts to reduce reliance on foreign software and other technologies amid tighter export restrictions from Washington. Cangjie, named after a legendary figure in Chinese mythology credited with inventing written Chinese characters, is designed for 'full-scenario intelligence', according to Huawei. It features native artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and robust security, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, according to its official website. Huawei's smartphones are displayed at its flagship store in Beijing. Photo: Reuters The language primarily supports general programming for apps on HarmonyOS Next, a version of Huawei's cross-device operating system that is entirely independent of Android.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China mostly unscathed by turbulent six months, but 2025 still an uphill climb
While China's economy has shown considerable resilience through a turbulent first half of 2025 – navigating the dramatic twists and turns of US trade policy while maintaining steady growth - experts warn Beijing's challenges are far from over. Advertisement Although many believe the country can still hit its annual goal of 'around 5 per cent' for gross domestic product growth, more pressure points are expected to emerge in the latter half of the year. After the bilateral trade war saw a temporary de-escalation following separate rounds of talks in Geneva and London, ratings agency Fitch raised its full-year forecast for China's economy from 3.9 per cent to 4.2 per cent, even without the details of the framework to which the two countries had agreed. Other institutions remain more cautious, with Barclays holding to its below-consensus projection of 4 per cent. While forecasts vary, financial institutions broadly agree on the challenges ahead - a downturn in exports, persistent sluggishness in the property sector, weak domestic demand and inefficiencies in the labour market. Although the decline in China's shipments to the US has been partially offset by heightened trade with a more diversified set of partners, Barclays forecast that export growth will slow to zero in the second half of the year, owing to a payback effect from a front-loading of orders in the first half and a projected slowdown in US consumer spending. Advertisement China Galaxy Securities was less optimistic, predicting that exports in the next six months will contract, with an ultimate annual growth rate of around 1.5 per cent.
