Typhoon Yutu brought most Hong Kong businesses to a standstill yesterday, which was the second time this month that typhoons caused lost working days with one chamber of commerce director saying it was not good for the SAR's image.
Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce director Eden Woon Yi-teng suggested people overseas might think Hong Kong had a lot of non-working days.
'The other thing is the impression it leaves that there seem to be a lot of off-days here in Hong Kong both in terms of public holidays and in terms of black rain and typhoons, etcetera. That's not good for the image of a business city,' Mr Woon said.
He said one of the main areas affected by the typhoon was the financial sector as the stock market was closed all day due to the hoisting of typhoon signal No 8.
Only a small amount of the turnover forgone by the market's closure was likely to be recovered in the coming days, analysts said.
'I don't think it really makes much difference on turnover,' said South China Online vice-chairman Howard Gorges of the first trading day after a typhoon.