Hong Kong beats Japan as world's third-largest stock market

By Will Davies

Bragging rights to Hong Kong, for now.

The city’s equity market has overtaken Japan to be the world’s third-largest in value, behind only the US and mainland China, courtesy a rebound in Hong Kong stocks after their worst year since 2011.


Hong Kong’s market cap was $5.78 trillion as of Tuesday, the latest available data show, compared with $5.76 trillion for Japan. The Asian city’s benchmark Hang Seng Index climbed 17 per cent this year through Tuesday, when it closed at its highest since June 15.

Internet giant Tencent Holdings has been the main driver with a 22 per cent gain. Japan’s Topix Index advanced 8.3 per cent during that period.

Both markets were lower on Wednesday as an economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund renewed concerns about a slowdown in global growth and after the US threatened tariffs on the European Union.

The Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 per cent as of 11:38 a.m. in Hong Kong, still just above the 30,000-point level that it broke through earlier this month. The Topix was down 0.7 per cent.