Some shipping companies are discreetly moving operations out of Hong Kong and taking vessels off its flag registry. Others are making contingency plans to do so.

China and Hong Kong stocks slipped on Tuesday, as new U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports were set to take effect, while investors awaited the upcoming annual parliamentary sessions to gauge Beijing's policy path.

If you were following last week's Budget debate, you might have noticed several People's Action Party (PAP) MPs mentioning Hong Kong. Timing might have played a part. Hong Kong's financial secretary, Paul Chan, delivered Hong Kong's 2025-2026 budget speech on Feb. 26, 2025, thus coinciding with our budget debates.

An aerial photo taken on Oct. 19, 2024 shows a fishing port in Lingao County, south China's Hainan Province. Fishermen here are busy unloading and processing seafood in harvest season. These fresh catches, apart from meeting local demand, will also be marketed nationwide via cold-chain logistics. Photo: Xinhua

BYD’s fundraising echoes the approach taken by many Chinese companies including Anta Sports, which raised $1.5bn in Hong Kong in a follow-on offering in 2023, to strengthen its financial position and accelerate its global expansion. Its subsidiary Amer Sports also pushed further into global markets, listing in the US last year.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) is up over 75% for the year so far, making it one of the Hang Seng's best performing stocks.

Hong Kong authorities are pushing to create an Asian rival to Europe’s influential securities depositories, in a bid to lessen dependence on western financial infrastructure and boost global use of the renminbi.