Hong Kong has built up a gilt-edged reputation as one of the world's most reputable financial market centres. The city of Hong Kong enjoyed a unique position for many years. It is situated in the Asia Pacific region, very close to Shenzhen in mainland China, whilst being a global investment and banking leviathan.

Hong Kong's stature as the 'New York of the East' alluded to the investment banking sector, global institutional trading venues and currency clearing capacity, which stood it out as a gateway to the world for Chinese companies as well as a gateway to the Eastern markets for European and American financial giants.

Today, Hong Kong remains an interesting prospect; its stock markets are heavily focused on local APAC and mainland Chinese corporations, with a degree of volatility present ever since Hong Kong completed its transition to full Chinese governance.

FXOpen has taken a further step in its commitment to providing access to the most poignant instruments across the world's financial markets and has now added* 29 stocks listed on the Hong Kong market, which are tradable on FXOpen's TickTrader platform in the form of CFDs.

Today, we take a look at the most popular among these new instruments.

1) Tencent Holdings Limited HK

Just a few kilometres away from the classically elegant city of Hong Kong is Shenzhen, the first Chinese metropolis that is reached after a short walk across the border into mainland China from Hong Kong. Shenzhen is a modern, plate-glass showcase of Chinese technological prowess and is home to Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is one of the largest multi-faceted technology companies in the world.

In China, email is long obsolete, and everyone from CEOs of large corporations to teenagers in school communicates using either QQ or WeChat messengers, both of which are products of Tencent. Whilst Western authorities and business moguls wrangle over a potential deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, disapproving of its size in which it would potentially create a gaming monopoly, Tencent dwarfs both firms in the video gaming industry. Tencent is one of the largest video gaming companies in the world.

The company also produces smartphone applications as well as actual smartphones, payment technology, music streaming software, e-commerce platforms and advertising. Since it crossed the $500 billion valuation mark six years ago, Tencent has become the most highly capitalised company in all of China. Given the nation's industrial prowess, that is quite some accolade.

2) China Construction Bank Corporation HK

Hong Kong's division of the China Construction Bank is a vital strategic outpost for the financial giant as it represents the firm's international business arm.

The entity which became China Construction Bank HK has an illustrious 112-year history in the territory and was the first Chinese-owned bank to ever be established in Hong Kong under its original guise of Bank of Canton. Throughout the British era, the bank underwent many changes, including a stint as Bank of America in the early 1990s. In 2006, it was acquired by China Construction Bank, which is one of the four largest banks in Mainland China.

Listed on Hong Kong's main market, the bank's stock tends to trade under the 5 HKD mark, making it accessible for many investors with a low entry barrier. This stock is offered by FXOpen for CFD trading on the TickTrader platform.

3) BYD Company Limited HK

Among motoring enthusiasts and the car manufacturing establishment of the West, relatively new entrants into a long-established and conservative industry reliant on brand heritage and decades of engineering prowess or motorsport pedigree have often, over the years, been met with derision.

BYD, one of China's most prominent motor vehicle manufacturers, is no exception. Motoring events, boardrooms at large motor manufacturers and special interest internet forums for car enthusiasts have often been awash with derogatory remarks or humorous quips writing off Chinese cars as somehow of inferior quality, the preserve of the uninformed or the transportation choice of the price-led who simply do not care what they drive.

Well, it is not funny anymore. China has for many decades manufactured vehicles for its home market and done so very successfully, and BYD is one of the giants which produces cars, motorcycles, buses, trucks and construction equipment and is now exporting such vehicles worldwide. More recently, BYD joined the electric car battle for supremacy, and its modern, technologically advanced cars are selling well in countries other than China and competing against established European, American, and Japanese brands.

Listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, BYD's stock is of interest to investors who relish the company's expansion of marketing to an international audience. Its stock CFD is available on FXOpen's TickTrader platform.

4) Xiaomi Corporation HK

Apple and Samsung may have dominated the smartphone hardware market in most regions of the world for almost two decades, but in China, things are somewhat different.

In terms of the internet and the infrastructure that surrounds it, China is a world of its own. Most of the internet sites and services that are commonplace in other regions of the world are blocked in China, and China has its own highly sophisticated internet ecosystem, which relies on home-grown platforms, which are veritable giants.

For this reason, Chinese smartphones are dominant, and Xiaomi is one of them. Indeed, Xiaomi's smartphone manufacturing capacity is so large that it's considered one of the largest manufacturers of smartphones in the world. More recently, Apple and Samsung have regained their crown, with Xiaomi in third place, but it is clear that these relatively new competitors from China are serious contenders in this established brand-sensitive market.

The company operates in many sectors of the electronics industry, including computer software, television sets, drones, smart home equipment, household appliances and hardware, and even produces technology for the automotive industry. What is perhaps fascinating is that Xiaomi was only founded 14 years ago, yet it is vast, eclipsing electronics companies in other countries that have existed since Thomas Edison first discovered electricity.

Xiaomi is a Hang Seng index component in Hong Kong, and its stock CFD is available on FXOpen's TickTrader platform.

5) Baidu Inc. HK

Sticking with the internet theme, Baidu is next up. Baidu is often viewed by global pundits as the 'Google of China' as it is the basis for access to every area of internet services and online information in China.

Google does not serve China, and most of the websites and online services that are in widespread use in other nations are not available in China, with a Baidu-orientated equivalent being available instead.

Based in Beijing, Baidu is one of the largest internet and AI companies in the world, and is not only a mainstay of daily life for every Chinese citizen but is also a resource highly relied upon by the Chinese government's internet services division which monitors and controls activities in the country. China has the most sophisticated internet firewall in the world, which prevents access to many global sites and ensures almost total dependence on Chinese internet infrastructure.

Baidu's Hong Kong division has its stock listed on the Hong Kong exchange and is available on FXOpen's TickTrader platform via CFDs.

6) Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China Ltd. HK

Ping An is a widely recognised name across China, mostly due to its core activity as a retail banking giant which provides personal and business banking services as well as retail trading accounts.

The company operates across more sectors than banking, however, and is actively involved in venture capital investment, especially in technology and internet-related firms offering financial products or developing financial technology, as well as more traditional areas of the financial services world, such as pensions and insurance.

Ping An’s insurance division has a listed entity in Hong Kong whose shares have more recently been trading under the 40 HKD mark, making it an interesting instrument that has enjoyed more robust performance in the past.

Ping An shares are available via CFDs on FXOpen’s TickTrader platform.

7) CITIC Securities Company Limited HK

It is one of China's most comprehensive investment banks. The company operates across the Chinese market in a similar vector to that of the giants of Wall Street across North America.

Founded in 1995, the company provides services across the underwriting, research, brokerage, asset management, wealth management, and investment advisory sectors and is another fascinating Chinese pillar of strength given that it is only 29 years old compared with its similar-sized counterparts in the West which in some cases have been established since the days of the explorations to the new world in the 17th century.

Over the past month, CITIC Securities HK stock has been sliding considerably, but given the overall size of the company itself and its intrinsic value to China's government-controlled financial markets system, it is interesting indeed.

CITIC Securities HK stock is available for CFD trading via FXOpen's TickTrader platform.

8) Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited HK

The construction industry in China has been leading the world for many years as a reference point for incredible efficiency and ingenious city planning.

It has been possible to transform previously rural backwaters in central provinces into ultra-modern, highly productive cities with diversified industrial bases and luxurious living standards within just a matter of a few years.

Multi-use buildings, high-speed trains capable of over 300km/h connecting these cities to other hives of activity across the country, nuclear power stations and giant commercial and residential real estate investment trends have punctuated China’s remarkable growth over the past two decades.

However, there has been some over-exposure and, more recently, concern over the sustainability of the real estate market in China.

Cement manufacturing has been a vital source of material for such a huge development boom; however, in February this year, Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited HK stock hit 1-year lows.

An interesting move, considering that China is the largest economic superpower in the world and its production capacity remains on the increase; hence, manufacturing facilities and towns to support them may well continue to be built.

Anhui Conch Cement Company Limited HK stock is available for CFD trading on FXOpen's TickTrader platform.

9) China Mobile Limited HK

China Mobile is a telecommunications giant, which is interesting as a corporate entity due to its major shareholder being the Chinese government.

State ownership, or majority shareholding by the state, is common among telecommunications and media entities in China, and China Mobile is the world's largest telecommunications network by number of subscribers and the largest telecommunications company in the world by revenue.

That is quite some feat. Although it is a Chinese company these days, its origins are actually in Hong Kong as it was founded in 1997 in Hong Kong as China Telecom (Hong Kong) Ltd.

China Mobile is yet another Chinese corporate giant that has risen to enormity in a relatively short time, and its stock is listed on the Hong Kong exchange, with buoyant performance in recent months.

Whether one is looking to gain exposure to China's leading technology companies or the region's robust financial sector, these stocks present a varied array of trading opportunities within one of the globe's most dynamic markets.

*FXOpen is adding Hong Kong stocks, which will take effect according to the approval of each specific regulator.

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