Dragon claws leave mark

3. HK, mainland ink CEPA Supplement IX

The central government and the Hong Kong government signed the ninth supplement to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) in late June, aiming to enhance trade and economic cooperation and exchanges between the two places.

Supplement IX to CEPA provides for a total of 43 measures for services liberalization and trade and investment facilitation, including 37 liberalization measures in 22 service sectors. It is aimed at strengthening cooperation in areas of finance, trade and investment facilitation, and promoting the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in the mainland and Hong Kong.

Supplement IX will additionally relax 21 existing service trading sectors, such as legal, accounting, banking, securities and medical services. Moreover, the two sides have agreed to introduce new liberalization measures in education services. All new measures under Supplement IX relating to the liberalization of trade in services will take effect on January 1, 2013. Including the new measures, the two sides have so far announced 338 liberalization measures in 48 service sectors.

4. Bourse buys London Metal Exchange

The Hong Kong stock exchange in June agreed to pay 1.4 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) to buy the London Metal Exchange (LME), a British institution and the world's biggest marketplace for industrial metals.

As the 135-year-old LME, with a record volume of $15.4 trillion last year, sets global benchmark prices for metals including copper, aluminum and nickel, which enabled the city's stock exchange to control about 80 percent of global trade in industrial-metal futures after the merger.

An increase in trading by Chinese companies on the LME is also seen these days. The merger also offers LME a fast track into the mainland and will strengthen its position in the major market against the Shanghai Futures Exchange that trades in base metals.