Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Clearing Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Clearing is a general term that simply means many different things depending on the subject and related industry. Most commonly, this refers to the reciprocal exchange between banks of checks and drafts, and the settlement of the differences, or the total of claims settled at a clearinghouse. In finance and banking, the word clearing has different meanings depending on the more specific business model. Moving checks from the bank where they were deposited to the bank on which they were drawn. Th Read this Term (HKEX) Limited released its monthly trading report this Monday. The firm, which owns the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Hong Kong Futures exchange, disclosed trading figures for its securities and derivatives markets for April 2018.

The securities market saw a monthly turnover of approximately 2.06 trillion HKD ($262.29 billion). This was substantially less than March, in which the securities market saw 2.76 trillion HKD ($350 billion) in turnover.

This was in part explained by the fact that March had two more days of trading than April. That being said, the average daily turnover for securities in April was still 17.7 percent lower than it was in March.

The reduction in trading was not confined to a specific type of security. Instead, there was an even decrease in securities trading across Equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Read this Term, derivative warrants, unit trusts and callable bull/bear contracts.

Futures up, options down

In the derivatives market, there was an increase in futures trading volumes - although it was not as substantial as the decrease in the securities market. April saw an average trading volume of 521,405 futures contracts per day. This was a 6.4 percent increase on March which had the lower figure of 490,028 futures contracts per day.

Trading volumes in the options markets decreased slightly in April. Average daily volumes for options were 661,829 contracts per day. This was 6 percent less than the 704,210 contracts per day in March.

Aside from fluctuations in trading volumes, April also saw eight new companies added to the securities market. This was a year-on-year decrease as in April of 2017, 11 firms were added to the market.