The Hang Seng Index is a freefloat-adjusted market
capitalization-weighted stock market index in Hong Kong. It is used to record
and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market
and is the main indicator of the overall market performance in Hong Kong. These
50 constituent companies represent about 58% of the capitalisation of the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange. HSI was started on November 24, 1969,
and is currently compiled and maintained by Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited,
which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hang Seng Bank, one of the largest banks
registered and listed in Hong Kong in terms of market capitalisation. It is
responsible for compiling, publishing and managing the Hang Seng Index and a
range of other stock indexes, such as Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, Hang
Seng China AH Index Series, Hang Seng China H-Financials Index, Hang Seng
Composite Index Series, Hang Seng China A Industry Top Index, Hang Seng
Corporate Sustainability Index Series and Hang Seng Total Return Index Series.
Hang Seng in turn, despite being a public company, is held in majority by
British financial firm HSBC. History
The Hang Seng Index was created by Hong Kong banker Stanley Kwan and debuted on
November 24, 1969. Statistics
When the Hang Seng Index was first published, its base of 100 points was
set equivalent to the stocks' total value as of the market close on July 31,
1964. Its all-time low is 58.61 points, reached retroactively on August 31,
1967, after the base value was established but before the publication
of the index. The Hang Seng passed the 10,000 point milestone for the first
time in its history on December 10, 1993 and, 13 years later, passed the 20,000
point milestone on December 28, 2006. In less than 10 months, it passed the
30,000 point milestone on October 18, 2007. Its all-time high, set on October
30, 2007, was 31,958.41 points during trading and 31,638.22 points at closing.
From October 30, 2007 through March 9, 2008, the index lost 9,426 points or
approximately 30%. On September 5, it fell past the 20,000 mark the first time
in almost a year to a low of 19,708.39, later closing at 19,933.28. On October
8, 2008, the index closed at 15,431.73, over 50% less than the all-time high and
the lowest closing value in over two years. On October 27, 2008, the index
further fell to 10,676.29 points, having fallen nearly two-thirds from its
all-time peak, but passed the 20,000 point milestone again to 20,063.93 on 24
July 2009. The index reached 25,000.00 on August 19, 2014, reaching as high as
25,201.21 that day, later closing at 24,909.26 points. It continued rising to
hit 26,000 on April 8, 2015 with a close of 26,236.86 The following day, it rose
to as much as 27,922.67 before closing at 26,944.39. Yet again, another
milestone was reached on April 13, 2015 rising to over 28,000 points, or closing
to 28,016.34, the highest since December 2007. On July 8, the index fell as much
as 2138 points. On 21 August the index entered a bear market.
Components On January 2, 1985, four sub-indices
were established in order to make the index clearer and to classify
constituent stocks into four distinct sectors. There are 50 HSI constituent
stocks in total. As of December 31, 2014 they are:
Hang Seng Finance Sub-index 0939 China Construction Bank
0005 HSBC Holdings plc 1299 AIA Group Limited
1398 Industrial and Commercial Bank of China
2388 BOC Hong Kong Ltd 2318 Ping An Insurance
3988 Bank of China Ltd 3328 Bank of Communications Ltd
0011 Hang Seng Bank Ltd 2628 China Life
0388 HKEx Limited 0023 Bank of East Asia, Ltd
Hang Seng Utilities Sub-index 0002 CLP Holdings Ltd
0003 Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited
0006 Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd 0836 China Resources Power
Hang Seng Properties Sub-index 0016 Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd
0001 Cheung Kong Ltd 0688 China Overseas Land & Investment
Limited 0004 Wharf Ltd
0012 Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd 1109 China Resources Land Limited
0101 Hang Lung Properties Ltd 0017 New World Development Co. Ltd.
0083 Sino Land Co Ltd 0823 The Link REIT
Hang Seng Commerce & Industry Sub-index 0941 China Mobile Ltd
0700 Tencent Holdings Limited 0883 CNOOC Ltd
0013 Hutchison Whampoa Ltd 0267 CITIC Pacific Ltd
1928 Sands China 0762 China Unicom Ltd
0027 Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. 0066 MTR Corporation Ltd
0857 PetroChina Company Limited 0386 Sinopec Corp
0151 Want Want China Holdings Ltd 0992 Lenovo Group
0322 Tingyi Holding Corp 1044 Hengan International Group Co. Ltd
0019 Swire Group 1088 China Shenhua
1880 Belle International 0144 China Merchants Holdings
0293 Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd 2319 Mengniu Dairy
0494 Li & Fung Ltd 0135 Kunlun Energy
0291 China Resources Enterprise, Ltd The Hang Seng Composite Index Series was
launched on October 3, 2001, targeting on providing a broad standard of the
performance of the Hong Kong stock market. It was last revamped on March 8,
2010, and comprises 307 constituents. The market capitalisation of these
companies accounts for about 95% of the total capitalisation of the stocks in
Hong Kong. To ensure the impartiality of its
operation, Hang Seng Indexes Company Limited established an Independent
Advisory Committee to give advice on issues pertaining to the indexes,
including constituent changes and the development of new indexes.
Hang Seng Industry Classification System Hang Seng Industry Classification System
is a comprehensive system designed for the Hong Kong stock market by Hang Seng
Indexes Company Limited. It reflects the stock performance in different sectors.
It caters for the unique characteristics of the Hong Kong stock market and
maintains the international compatibility with a mapping to
international industry classification General classification guidelines:
i) The sales revenue arising from each business area of a company is the
primary parameter of stock classification. Profit or assets will
also be taken into consideration where these better reflects the company's
business. ii) A company will be classified into
different sectors according to its majority source of sales revenue(or
profit or assets if relevant). iii) Re-classification of a stock's
Industry Sector will occur once the company's business has undergone a major
change, such as, substantial merger or acquisition.
Industry sectors: Energy
Material Industrial Goods
Consumer Goods Services
Telecommunications Utilities
Financials Properties & Construction
Information Technology Conglomerates
Source of information The classification of each stock is
based on the information available to the public, for example the annual
reports and company announcements. Selection criteria for the HSI
constituent stocks HSI constituent stocks are selected with
the use of extensive analysis, together with external consultation. To be
qualified for selection, a company: must be among those that comprise top
90% of the total market value of all ordinary shares;
must be among those that comprise top 90% of the total turnover on the Stock
Exchange of Hong Kong Limited "SEHK"; should have a listing history of 24
months or meet the requirements of the following Guidelines:
Guidelines for Handling Large-cap Stocks Listed for Less than 24 Months
For a newly listed large-cap stock, the minimum listing time required for
inclusion in the stock universe for the HSI review is as follows:
Among the eligible candidates, final selections are based on their:
market capitalisation and turnover rankings;
representation of the respective sub-sectors within HSI; and
financial performance. Calculation formula for HSI
The current Hang Seng Index is calculated from this formula:
Descriptions on parameters: P(t)：Current Price at Day t
P(t-1)：Closing Price at Day IS：Issued Shares
FAF：Freefloat-adjusted Factor, which is between 0 and 1, adjusted quarterly
CF：Cap Factor, which is between 0 and 1, adjusted quarterly
Daily reports for HSI Investors in Asian markets monitor the
following reports for investment activities:
Hang Seng Indexes Daily Bulletin Hang Seng Index Constituent Stocks
Performance Index Performance Summary
Total Return Index Series Daily Bulletin Representativeness of the HSI
The representativeness of the HSI can be studied by the turnover of the whole
stock market and by how much its market capitalisation covers. The aggregate
market value of the HSI constituent stocks is maintained at approximately
60% of the total market value. This coverage ratio compares favorably with
major overseas stock indices. Other related Hang Seng stock indexes
Hang Seng China Enterprises Index Hang Seng China-Affiliated Corporations
Index Hang Seng China H-Financials Index
Hang Seng Mainland 100 Hang Seng Mainland 25
Hang Seng HK 35 Hang Seng REIT Index
Hang Seng Corporate Sustainability Index Series
Hang Seng Composite Index Hang Seng Composite Industry Indexes
Hang Seng Composite Size Indexes Hang Seng Short & Leveraged Index Series
Hang Seng China A Industry Top Index Hang Seng China 50 Index
Hang Seng China AH Premium Index(恒生AH股溢價指數)
Hang Seng China AH Index Series Hang Seng Total Return Index Series
Hang Seng Dividend Point Index Series See also
SSE Composite Index SZSE Component Index
Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index
References External links
Bloomberg page for HSI:IND Official website
Reuters page for .HSI Historical market capitalizations for
companies part of Hang Seng index