Key Benchmarks Performance
Hong Kong’s stock market plunged 4.3% in April after consecutive months’ rally while US President Donald Trump unveiled reciprocal tariffs for hundreds of global countries. China Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.7% in April and posted negative return of 2.2% for the year-to-date period. Indonesia, India, Australia, Thailand and Brazil markets all rose over 3% while Singapore, Hong Kong and Vietnam markets slid over 3% for April. For the year-to-date period (as of 2025/04/30), Spain’s IBEX 35 and Germany’s DAX were the best outperforming markets and posted positive return of 14.6% and 12.2%, separately. Hong Kong continued being the best outperforming Asia market and posted 10.3% positive return while US Philadelphia SE Semiconductors Index and Thailand market posted negative return of 15.1% and 14.5%. Taiwan, US NASDAQ and Japan were also underperforming markets and posted negative return of 12.2%, 9.7% and 9.6% for the year-to-date period (as of 2025/04/30).
Source：LSEG Lipper, as of 2025/04/30
Asset Types Analysis
The total 376 Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) registered for sale in Hong Kong posted slightly negative return of 0.2% on average in April of 2025 (as of 2025/04/30). Bond and Mixed Assets type posted the highest average gain of 1.2% while Equity type posted a negative average return of 1.2% for April. For the year-to-date period (as of 2025/04/30), Equity type posted an average return of 3.5% while Money Market type posted an average return of 1%.
Hong Kong MPF Performance by LGC Analysis
There are overall 376 Hong Kong Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) registered for sale in Hong Kong market with a total 24 Lipper Global Classifications. Among all 24 classifications, Equity Korea, Equity Japan and Equity Europe posted 10.7%, 2.9% and 2.1% on average, separately and took the leading positions among all MPF classifications while Equity China, Equity Hong Kong and Equity Greater China posted negative return of 4.3%, 4.0% and 3.6%, respectively in April. For the year-to-date period (as of 2025/04/30), Equity Korea, Equity Hong Kong and Equity China posted an outstanding performance and posted an average return of 16.5%, 10.1% and 10.0%, separately while Equity US posted negative return of 5.9%.
Source：LSEG Lipper, as of 2025/04/30, in Hong Kong Dollar
Outlook
Hong Kong’s economy grew 3.1% year-on-year (YoY) in the first quarter of 2025, up from 2.5% in the previous quarter and hitting 5-quarter high. Quarter-on-quarter, real GDP rose 1.9%, mainly due to stronger exports and a rebound in investment. Goods exports increased 8.4% YoY, whilst services exports rose 6.6%, supported by higher visitor arrivals and cross-border financial activity. Additionally, investment expenditure grew 2.8%, driven by machinery purchases and a surge in property transaction costs. Private consumption fell 1.1%, reflecting shifts in spending habits. Despite this, the government has kept its full-year GDP growth forecast unchanged at 2–3%.
Hong Kong Faces Mounting Economic Risks Amid Mainland Slowdown and Global Uncertainty. China’s slowdown, property instability, and trade uncertainty pose major risks to Hong Kong’s medium-term economic outlook. HKSAR government has stated that as global trade tensions escalated abruptly in early April due to significant increases in import tariffs imposed by the United States, downside risks surrounding the global economy have heightened visibly. The extremely high levels of trade policy uncertainty will dampen international trade flows and investment sentiment, which in turn overshadow the near-term outlook for the Hong Kong economy. Good news that earlier in May, the pause in the trade war saw the US agree to lower tariffs on Chinese exports from 145% to 30%, while China rolled back duties on American goods from 125% to 10%. The 90-day pause on Sino-US tariffs has given Hong Kong exporters some respite, but they were urgently pressing ahead with plans to diversify their production bases to mitigate geopolitical risks.
