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Key Benchmarks Performance

Hong Kong’s stock market continued rallying 3.4% in June and also produced a remarkable 20% gain for the first half (as of 2025/06/30), marking a notable comeback. China Shanghai Composite Index also soared 2.9% in June and posted positive return of 2.8% for the first half. US Philadelphia SE Semiconductors CR led global markets with a robust 16.6% gain, followed by the NASDAQ Composite at 6.6% and S&P 500 at 5% in June, hitting a recent or historical high.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX, Spain’s IBEX 35, and Italy markets posted strong double-digit returns for the first half. In Asia, South Korea’s KOSPI delivered a spectacular performance of 28% for the first half. On the contrary, most of ASEAN countries were underperforming. Thailand’s SET Index Substantial losses of 22.2% for the first half (as of 2025/06/30), reflecting sector and macroeconomic headwinds. Malaysia’s FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI CR also posted a negative return of 6.7% for the first half.

Table 1: Global Key Benchmarks Performance

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Source：LSEG Lipper, as of 2025/06/30

Asset Types Analysis

The total 376 Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) registered for sale in Hong Kong posted positive return of 2.9% on average in June of 2025 (as of 2025/06/30). Across all fund types, the average returns were 9.9% (YTD), 13.7% (1Y), 20.9% (3Y), and 22% (5Y). Equity funds outperformed other asset types, with a 1-month return of 4.3% and a YTD return of 14.1%. The 1-year and 3-year averages were strong at 20.2% and 28.5%, respectively. Over 5 years, equity funds delivered the highest average return of 34%. Equity funds consistently delivered the strongest returns across all timeframes, especially over the long term while bond type underperformed in most of time periods.

Hong Kong MPF Performance by LGC Analysis

There are overall 376 Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) registered for sale in Hong Kong market with a total 24 Lipper Global Classifications. Among all 24 classifications, Equity Korea, Equity Asia Pacific and Equity Other posted 18.7%, 6.4% and 5.5% on average, separately and took the leading positions among all MPF classifications in June. For the first half (as of 2025/06/30), Equity Korea, Equity Hong Kong and Equity China posted an outstanding performance with an average return of 54.9%, 20.9% and 19%, separately while Equity Sector Healthcare was also one and the only sector posted negative return of 0.3%.

Figure1：Top/Bottom 10 Hong Kong MPF Performance by Lipper Global Classifications, June 2025

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Source：LSEG Lipper, as of 2025/06/30, in Hong Kong Dollar

Figure2：Top/Bottom 10 Hong Kong MPF Performance by Lipper Global Classifications, Year-to-Date (as of 2025/06/30)

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Source：LSEG Lipper, as of 2025/06/30, in Hong Kong Dollar

Outlook

Retail sales in Hong Kong expanded by 2.4% from a year ago to HK$31.3 billion (US$3.99 billion) in May, according to official data, halting a 14-month contraction. The boost was mainly attributed to growth in visitors during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday. Hong Kong GDP jumped by a stronger than expected 3.1% for the first quarter, while tourist arrivals grew 20% in May from a year ago to more than 4 million. In the first five months, Hong Kong recorded more than 20 million visitor arrivals, up 12% from a year earlier. There are more tourists coming to Hong Kong, and the interest rate is going down, but Hong Kong residents are still concerned about the uncertain economy. All these mixed signals are really causing retail market turbulence.

On the contrary, It is optimistic about the performance of the Hong Kong stock and IPO markets in the second half of the year. The latest data showed that HK$107 billion (US$13.6 billion) had been raised through Hong Kong’s 42 IPOs in the first six months of the year, putting Hong Kong exchange in first place for funds raised globally. The amount raised so far this year was also 22% higher than the whole of 2024. The number of applications for IPOs in Hong Kong is also increasing rapidly. So far about 200 applications have been received, including companies from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

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