At a news conference after announcing its results, Charles Li, however, said HKEX doesn't have visibility about Saudi Aramco's listing plan.

The Saudi government says Aramco is worth $2 trillion (£1.44 trillion) and aims to list on one or more foreign stock exchanges in addition to Riyadh.

In an interview with Reuters in November, Li had said a Hong Kong listing by Aramco would help the oil giant secure huge Chinese demand for its planned $100 bln share sale.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Writing by Anshuman Daga; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)