Hong Kong to allow trading during typhoons from late September
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The city has been an outlier among major financial hubs in having rules to close markets during severe weather.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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HONG KONG – Hong Kong will end its decades-long practice of shutting its markets during typhoons and major storms starting on Sept 25, said the city’s Chief Executive John Lee.
There was broad support to allow trading in extreme weather and to follow other cities, Mr Lee said at his weekly press conference. There will be ample time in the transition period, he said.
The city has been an outlier among major financial hubs in having rules to close markets during severe weather. The practice was seen as increasingly antiquated after the pandemic years showed markets could function even as most workers were stuck at home.
Typically, five to eight typhoons hit the city each year, but not all bring traffic and schools to a halt.
The local government pushed hard for the change and urged coordination between the stock exchange, securities regulator and central bank, even as many smaller brokers voiced their opposition to it because of costs and difficulties in remaining open.
The trading halt also drew criticism because it stops flows through Stock Connect, which links to markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen. An average of 125 billion yuan (S$23.3 billion) a day traded northbound and HK$56 billion (S$9.7 billion) southbound on the link in May. BLOOMBERG
