More than 150 Hong Kong stocks halted from trading, most for missing earnings deadline, in test for market discipline
- Titan Petrochemicals, GCL-Poly and Hainan Meilan joined about 6 per cent of Hong Kong listed companies in trading halt
- Most cited delays in publishing their 2020 unaudited accounts after missing the March 31 deadline
Titan Petrochemical kick-started today’s list at 6.34am. Most of them cited delays in publishing their fourth-quarter and 2020 annual results, without shedding more light into the action. The list expanded from more than 90 at the close of trading Wednesday.
The exchange had 2,549 listed companies at the end of February with a combined market capitalisation of HK$52.9 trillion (US$6.8 trillion).
While there is probably no sinister reason involved, it may be interpreted as a way to pre-empt any negative investor reaction. Investors are wary of sudden stock suspension. It rekindles memories of the misuse of trading rules during China’s last stock market crash in 2015.
Then, more than 1,000 companies, or about half of the publicly traded companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, requested trading halts in a bid to avert a sell-off.