Cathay Pacific debuts on Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1986 – SCMP archive

On this day 40 years ago, the city’s flagship carrier opened to public trading on the stock exchange

Turnover soars as Cathay takes off

By Jerry Norton

This article was first published on May 16, 1986

Cathay Pacific Airways had a memorable take-off in the stock market yesterday, accounting for a massive $446 million worth of turnover, more than the combined value of all other shares traded.

The action in the rest of the market was strictly pedestrian, however, as the excitement over Cathay failed to spill over to other shares and the Hang Seng index dropped 27 points.

In volume terms, 86.6 million Cathay shares changed hands in their trading debut, equivalent to more than 38 per cent of the 226 million shares offered to the general public last month.

And Cathay’s $5.15 closing represented a hefty 33 per cent premium on the $3.88 offer price.

However, the closing figure came as no surprise, since grey market prices ranging from $4.80 to $5.50 had been quoted over the last several weeks, and brokers had been forecasting the fresh trades yesterday would be in a $5 to $5.40 band.