⁍ Hong Kong’s central bank has sold more of its local currency so far this year than it did in any full year since the global financial crisis.

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⁍ Capital has flown into the Asian financial hub in 2020, initially due to comparatively high interest rates.

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⁍ Ant Group’s looming $35 billion joint listing in Hong Kong and Shanghai, for example, is expected to keep demand high.

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– The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar in a narrow range, so when the Hong Kong Monetary Authority sells Hong Kong dollars to the market when the Hong Kong dollar weakens to a certain level, the HKMA gets the money back. When the Hong Kong dollar strengthens to a certain level, the HKMA sells the dollars again. This year, however, the HKMA has actually sold more Hong Kong dollars than it sold in any full year since the financial crisis, Reuters reports. So far this year, the HKMA has sold $213 billion, more than it sold in all of 2015, which was the highest total since 2009, according to official data. Analysts say the Hong Kong dollar is benefiting from a series of large initial public offerings in the city in 2020. “The Hong Kong dollar remains ‘biddish’ at its strong-side convertibility undertaking of 7.75 on the buoyant IPO flow,” one analyst says. “Currently there are six IPO subscriptions underway, with the Chinese giant internet payment IPO (Ant Group) in the pipeline later this month.”