Hong Kong stocks end the week lower after monetary authority steps in to prop up currency yet again
Benchmark Hang Seng Index was at 30,808.38, down 0.07 per cent at the close on Friday
The Hong Kong stock market ended the week lower, seesawing through the day on Friday, after the city’s de facto central bank took the rare action of stepping in to prop up the Hong Kong dollar on Thursday and Friday. Mainland markets also slipped.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index edged down 0.07 per cent, or 22.9 points, to 30,808.38 at the close on Friday, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, known as the H-share gauge, dropped 0.22 per cent to 12,261.23.
The turnover on Friday was HK$97 billion (US$12.36 billion) – about 20 per cent lower than the weekly average.
The dip comes after the Hong Kong Monetary Authority intervened for the first time since the trading band was imposed 13 years ago. The HKMA bought another HK$2.44 billion and sold US$311 million on Friday morning, after a purchase of HK$816 million on Thursday.
Its intervention on Friday was triggered by the Hong Kong dollar sinking back to 7.85 to the US dollar – the lower end of permitted range – early in the morning.
The HKMA has bought HK$3.26 billion worth of the currency in total.