More than 300,000 senior-aged Hong Kong investors jumped at the chance to secure returns better than bank deposits currently provide, applying to buy 1.4 times more Silver Bonds than the government offered in its latest HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) issuance.
Investors submitted about 300,100 bids for HK$70.16 billion worth of bonds during the offering period, which started on September 30 and ended on Monday at 2pm, a government spokesman said.
The number of applications dropped 7.7 per cent compared with last year’s 326,000, while the total bid amount fell 2.8 per cent short of last year’s total of HK$72.18 billion, which was a record high. The sale, however, exceeded the offering in 2022, when 290,000 senior citizens lodged HK$62.64 billion worth of bids for the bonds, which are exclusively for investors aged 60 and above.
Given the enthusiastic response, the government is expected to increase the final issue size to the upper…
