Hong Kong says stock market must remain open during typhoon from September 23 By Reuters
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s stock market will remain open during typhoons and heavy rain from Sept. 23, a change that will help maintain the global financial center’s competitiveness, the city’s leader John Lee said on Tuesday.
Lee, who made the announcement at a weekly press conference, said the move is in line with other cities and has strong support from merchants and banks.
Dickie Wong, senior director of research at Kingston Securities, said there is a consensus in the market for the release of a new measure to allow trading under adverse weather conditions.
“I don’t think this move will help the market or trading volume much,” Wong said, adding that he was neutral on the rating.
“The market is now very concerned about whether the (Hong Kong-mainland) Stock Connect program can be expanded to include more companies, such as Alibaba (NYSE:). These moves are very important for the Hong Kong stock market,” Wong added.
Shares in the city’s Hong Kong Exchanges and Debt Exchanges operator were down 0.6% by the lunch break. That compares to a 0.2% slip in the benchmark.
