Twenty years ago this month, with the dotcom boom in full swing, Hong Kong launched what it hoped would be the Asian financial hub’s answer to New York’s Nasdaq. But a long decline in trading activity and returns offers few reasons to celebrate the milestone.

The city’s Growth Enterprise Market made its debut in November 1999, allowing pre-profit companies to raise cash from investors with fewer restrictions than the main board of the Hong Kong stock exchange — one of the world’s premier listing venues. The 2000 float of Tom.com, an internet company backed by Li Ka-shing, provided some early runs.

“Everyone was talking about it being the Nasdaq of Hong Kong,” said Michael Pepper, a partner at law firm Reed Smith in the city, who advised on GEM’s launch and gave his daughter the middle name Gemma in a nod to the fledgling market. “I thought it was a really good idea, but at the moment it looks a bit like an unloved child.”