Twenty-three Chinese mainland companies among 38 new listings during the first half of 2004 raised a total of 46 billion HK dollars (5.9 billion US dollars), said Paul Chow, chief executive of HKEx (Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited) on Wednesday.

He noted that the amount raised by the mainland companies accounted for 83 percent of the total funds raised through IPOs (initial public offering).

"We will attract more major mainland issuers to strengthen HongKong as China's international financial center," he added.

The HKEx on Wednesday reported a 134 percent increase in its net profit to 505 million HK dollars (64.7 million US dollars), compared with 271 million HK dollars (34.7 million US dollars) in the first half of last year.

The average daily turnover also increased 137 percent from lastyear's 7.1 billion HK dollars (900 million US dollars) to 16.8 billion HK dollars (2.2 billion US dollars).

However, the investment income decrease 55 percent from the first half of last year's 178 million HK dollars (22.9 million US dollars) to 80 million HK dollars (10.3 million US dollars). Chow said the second quater saw an investment loss of 13 million HK dollars (1.7 million US dollars) due to the floppy bond and stock market.

Source: Xinhua