Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, or HKEx, Wednesday announced it profited 93 percent more in the first quarter this year, over one thirds of its annual profits predicted by the market.

The stock exchanger said its net profits in the first three months reached record high of 922.5 million HK dollars (118.2 million U.S. dollars), 93 percent up comparing with the same period last year, pushing its price immediately up to over 80 HK dollars in the afternoon.

HKEx attributes its net profit jump in the first quarter to big increase in stock and derivatives turnover, as well as doubling in investment income.

It said its income affected by market turnover grew 68 percent to 826.66 million HK dollars. The increase in trading fees and trading tariff was mainly due to the higher market turnover of the cash and derivatives markets.

While its income from sale of information grew 49 percent to 127.61 million HK dollars due to increasing demand from the market. Investment income for the quarter also record an increase of 98 percent to 223.14 million HK dollars.

Analysts believe investment institutes may move up HKEx's annual profits forecast but they warn investors against chasing because the stock price may move up and down around 80 HK dollars, a benchmark difficult to break in near term.

Source: Xinhua