The gross stock value in Hong Kong of listed companies from the Chinese mainland could grow by 50 percent in the next five to ten years, said a stock market insider here Saturday.

Speaking at China Securities Market Annual Meeting, Cao Qin from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said Hong Kong has become the biggest market for China's mainland businesses.

At the end of September, Hong Kong had 1,080 listed companies, 282 from the Chinese mainland.

In 1993, the Tsing Tao Beer Co. Ltd. became the first mainland company to enter the Hong Kong stock market. Since that time, the gross stock value of mainland businesses has risen to 1.7 trillionHK dollars (about 194 billion US dollars), more than one third of the market's total value, said Cao.

She said Hong Kong investors show a keen interest in mainland businesses and are fully confident about the mainland's economic development.

Six of Hong Kong's top 20 listed companies are from the Chinesemainland, including China Mobile (second) and China National Offshore Oil Corp. (eighth).

However, Hong Kong's stock market also welcomes the small and medium-sized enterprises from the country's interior areas, noted Cao, who added that as a matter of fact, most mainland enterprisescollect a fund of less than one billion yuan (about 120 million USdollars) from the market.

Cao said that according to the rough analysis of Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the gross stock value of mainland listed companies will increase by 50 percent by 2014.

The shared language and cultural backgrounds, in addition to the geographical advantages, make Hong Kong a major financing channel for mainland companies, acknowledged Cao, and equally the HK investors tend to pay more attention to the stocks of the mainland enterprises.

Ranking eighth in the world, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange is a major channel through which overseas investment can go to China's mainland businesses.

Source: Xinhua