Hong Kong Wealth, Fund Assets Hit $4.5 Trillion as Inflows Surge
Net fund inflows jumped 81% to HK$705 billion across the industry in 2024, according to a survey conducted by the Securities and Futures Commission. In particular, inflows for the asset management and fund advisory business soared 571% to HK$321 billion.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Asian stocks steady as investors brace for tariff deadline and Fed
By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks rose modestly on Wednesday, with investors cautious after trade talks between the U.S. and China ended without any substantive agreement and ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%, led by gains for Taiwanese stocks, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild losses as traders braced for a slew of corporate earnings. Australian shares were up 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 0.03%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index skidded 0.4%. The euro edged up from a one-month low, rising 0.2% to $1.1564, as markets weighed the EU's trade deal with the Trump administration. Traders are preparing for several central bank decisions, key economic reports and corporate earnings during the next few days, culminating in U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline. The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting later on Wednesday, though it could see a rare dissent by some central bank officials in favour of lower borrowing costs. "With labour market conditions near full employment, most Fed officials want to wait and see how tariffs impact inflation," said Tom Kenny, senior international economist at ANZ in Sydney. Some officials are concerned that tariffs could drive higher inflation expectations, leading to more persistent price pressures rather than a one-off hit, he said on a podcast. "Our expectation is that the Fed should be in a position to cut rates at the September meeting." U.S. Treasury bonds advanced ahead of the Fed's meeting, pushing yields to the lowest in almost four weeks following a strong auction of seven-year notes that quelled concerns about diminishing demand for government debt. [US/] The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was last 4.328%, the lowest level since July 3. The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed fund rates, was little changed at 3.873%. TARIFFS, CORPORATE EARNINGS The Bank of Japan is expected to hold steady on Thursday and the focus will be on its comments to gauge when the next rate increase will come after a trade deal between Japan and the U.S. cleared the way for the BOJ to resume its rate-hike path. Ahead of Trump's deadline to reach a deal to avert imposition of the "Liberation Day" tariffs, some countries' talks with the U.S. looked set to go down to the wire. U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce on Tuesday, though no major breakthroughs were announced. U.S. officials said it was up to President Trump to decide whether to extend a trade truce that expires on August 12 or potentially let tariffs shoot back up to triple-digit figures. India is also bracing for higher U.S. tariffs — likely between 20% and 25% — on some exports as it holds off on fresh trade concessions ahead of the August 1 deadline, two Indian government sources said. Meanwhile, three South Korean cabinet-level officials met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a last-ditch push for a deal. Oil prices rose as potential supply shortages came into focus after Trump gave Moscow an abbreviated deadline toward ending the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures rose 14 cents, or 0.19%, to $72.65 a barrel. U.S. tech megacaps Microsoft and Meta are due to report earnings on Wednesday that will set the tone for the rest of the week and the earnings season. "It's been a solid U.S. reporting season so far, but these megacap names need to run it hot and blow the lights out, given the bar to please has been sufficiently raised," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. The Singapore dollar strengthened 0.2% after Singapore's central bank kept its monetary policy settings unchanged on Wednesday following stronger-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Asian stocks steady as investors brace for tariff deadline and Fed
By Gregor Stuart Hunter SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stocks rose modestly on Wednesday, with investors cautious after trade talks between the U.S. and China ended without any substantive agreement and ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy announcement. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3%, led by gains for Taiwanese stocks, after U.S. stocks ended the previous session with mild losses as traders braced for a slew of corporate earnings. Australian shares were up 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei stock index slid 0.03%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index skidded 0.4%. The euro edged up from a one-month low, rising 0.2% to $1.1564, as markets weighed the EU's trade deal with the Trump administration. Traders are preparing for several central bank decisions, key economic reports and corporate earnings during the next few days, culminating in U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline. The Federal Reserve is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at its policy meeting later on Wednesday, though it could see a rare dissent by some central bank officials in favour of lower borrowing costs. "With labour market conditions near full employment, most Fed officials want to wait and see how tariffs impact inflation," said Tom Kenny, senior international economist at ANZ in Sydney. Some officials are concerned that tariffs could drive higher inflation expectations, leading to more persistent price pressures rather than a one-off hit, he said on a podcast. "Our expectation is that the Fed should be in a position to cut rates at the September meeting." U.S. Treasury bonds advanced ahead of the Fed's meeting, pushing yields to the lowest in almost four weeks following a strong auction of seven-year notes that quelled concerns about diminishing demand for government debt. [US/] The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was last 4.328%, the lowest level since July 3. The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed fund rates, was little changed at 3.873%. TARIFFS, CORPORATE EARNINGS The Bank of Japan is expected to hold steady on Thursday and the focus will be on its comments to gauge when the next rate increase will come after a trade deal between Japan and the U.S. cleared the way for the BOJ to resume its rate-hike path. Ahead of Trump's deadline to reach a deal to avert imposition of the "Liberation Day" tariffs, some countries' talks with the U.S. looked set to go down to the wire. U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce on Tuesday, though no major breakthroughs were announced. U.S. officials said it was up to President Trump to decide whether to extend a trade truce that expires on August 12 or potentially let tariffs shoot back up to triple-digit figures. India is also bracing for higher U.S. tariffs — likely between 20% and 25% — on some exports as it holds off on fresh trade concessions ahead of the August 1 deadline, two Indian government sources said. Meanwhile, three South Korean cabinet-level officials met with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in a last-ditch push for a deal. Oil prices rose as potential supply shortages came into focus after Trump gave Moscow an abbreviated deadline toward ending the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures rose 14 cents, or 0.19%, to $72.65 a barrel. U.S. tech megacaps Microsoft and Meta are due to report earnings on Wednesday that will set the tone for the rest of the week and the earnings season. "It's been a solid U.S. reporting season so far, but these megacap names need to run it hot and blow the lights out, given the bar to please has been sufficiently raised," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone. The Singapore dollar strengthened 0.2% after Singapore's central bank kept its monetary policy settings unchanged on Wednesday following stronger-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Brant discusses strategy for Asset Management Plan
County of Brant Council adopted a financing strategy for its Asset Management Plan during its regular council meeting on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Over the past two years, Council has adopted asset management plans for both core, and non-core infrastructure. Both include an inventory and condition estimates, replacement costs, life cycles and maintenance milestones for all County assets (something the corporation owns and takes care of) and infrastructure items. During Tuesday's meeting, Byron Tan, a manager from Watson and Associates Economists Ltd., presented a financing strategy based on the 2024 Asset Management Plan (prepared by R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd.) to Council. 'The asset management plan and financing strategy provide a framework to ensure that the County's assets and infrastructure are maintained to an appropriate standard and replaced in an orderly fashion, as needed to maintain quality and reliable services to the community,' said Heather Boyd, the County's General Manager of Corporate Services. The proposed financing strategy doesn't commit budget funds to asset projects, but instead, sets a goal to achieve full funding for the replacement of the County's assets based on their project life cycles, and as it aligns with its Long Term Financial Plan. According to Tan, the total replacement cost for the County's infrastructure assets is estimated to be approximately $2.8 billion. Currently, roads account for the largest share of replacement costs at 49 per cent (or $1.38 billion), followed by bridges and culverts at 14 per cent ($384 million), wastewater at 10 per cent ($287 million) water at 10 per cent ($284 million) and all the other assets such as trails and park, roadway assets, storm water, non-core assets like facilities, and other non-core assets make up the last 17 per cent ($302 million). Tan explained that in order to comply with O. Reg. 588/17, which states that municipalities are required to develop a minimum ten-year capital plan that forecasts the costs of implementing the lifecycle management strategies, that was how he laid out the financial strategy for the County. 'An annual lifecycle funding target represents the amount of funding that would be required annually to fully finance a lifecycle management strategy over the long term,' read Tan's report. 'By planning to achieve this annual funding level, the County would theoretically be able to fully fund capital works as they arise.' Tan explained that in order to help pay for future tax-supported asset projects for things like as roads, bridges and culverts, trails, roadway assets, storm water, parks, facilities, vehicles, solid waste sites, emergency services equipment and IT and solar equipment, the County would have to annually put away approximately $38.4 million for the next ten years. He also said that in order to help pay for rate-supported asset projects for things like water and wastewater, the County would need to annually put away approximately $9.8 million for the next ten years. 'Based on your long term financial plan, as well as what we've undertaken for this asset management strategy, we have identified about $30 million that could go towards [tax-based] asset management items. …With what you have available as its relative to the funding gap for the tax supported side, it's about an $8.4 million difference,' Tan told Council. 'On the rate-supported side, we have about $5.7 million that we've identified through the capital funding budget. …Keeping in mind that there's a $9.8 million annual life cycle amount target, that translates to a $4.1 million funding gap.' Tan's report went on to say that there were a few things to that could be done to make up for the gap with the tax-based assets, including accessing funding from the Canada Community-Building Fund, the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund, and increasing the County's tax levy anywhere from 4.4 to 6.1 per cent from 2026 to 2034. The report does say that if other funding sources become available, or if staff can implement certain maintenance practices that defer capital works, that the impact on the County's taxation levy could potentially decrease. As far as addressing the gap for the rate-based assets, an annual increase of 3.7 per cent to the County's water revenues and an increase of 8.6 per cent to wastewater rates, would also be required from 2026 to 2034. 'The rate impacts identified above include inflationary adjustments to the County's operating costs and revenues (i.e., general operating inflation of 2.5 per cent annually),' said Tan. 'If, however, other funding sources become available (as mentioned above), or if maintenance practices allow for the deferral of capital works, the impact on the County's water and wastewater rates would potentially decrease.' Boyd later told Council that nothing is set in stone and that if they voted in favour of the financial strategy, they wouldn't be making any sort of funding commitment at this time. 'Council still has to do all the work we always do with the budget in terms of bringing expectations into alignment with what we need to do,' she said. Councillor John Peirce also made a comment about the reality of what they were dealing with as far as their Asset Management Plan. 'What we talked about tonight, those percentages, those are just to get us to a spot where we should be and that's an important factor to remember here,' said Peirce. 'This isn't the end-all be-all, this is just to build us up to where we should be if something were to happen.' Council eventually unanimously approved the adoption of the financial strategy and staff will continue to iron out the details as the full impact of all budgetary pressures will be presented to Council for consideration as part of the Long Term Financial Plan Annual Review at a later date. Kimberly De Jong's reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative. The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at . Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
