Hong Kong stock exchange to continue trading during typhoons from September 23: John Lee
- City leader accepts suggestions to scrap practice of halting trading when forecaster issues No 8 typhoon signal or above
Hong Kong’s bourse operator will allow trading to continue during typhoons and torrential rain starting from September 23, the chief executive has announced, a move hailed as enhancing the city’s gateway role for both global and mainland Chinese markets.
City leader John Lee Ka-chiu said on Tuesday he had accepted suggestions to scrap the 70-year-old practice of halting trading on the stock market or shutting it entirely when the forecaster issued a No 8 typhoon signal or black rainstorm alert.
Lee said the new arrangement was in line with standards applied at global stock exchanges, including those in Shenzhen and Shanghai, which maintained operations during severe weather.
“As an international financial centre, Hong Kong has no reason not to follow the practice,” he said, adding halting trading during severe weather was “abnormal” given most transactions were electronic.
Under the new arrangement, investors will be able to trade Hong Kong stocks and derivatives, and buy mainland A-shares and other products through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect during severe weather.
The city abandoned its physical trading in 2017 in favour of electronic transactions but remains among the very few major markets that suspends transactions during extreme weather.