Hong Kong Halts Morning Stock Trading as Typhoon Nears China
Hong Kong scrapped morning trading of its $4.9 trillion stock market as the city extends a storm warning due to Super Typhoon Yagi, which skirted the region overnight as it headed for southern China.
The city's weather bureau issued its third-highest warning alert on Thursday evening, and reiterated early Friday that the Typhoon Signal 8 was expected to remain in force until at least noon. Under the stock exchange's current rules, the morning session is canceled if the alert remains in place at 9 a.m.
If the alert isn't lowered by 12 p.m., afternoon trading will also be canceled. This will likely be the last time a typhoon forces a halt to the exchange, with the financial hub ending its decades-long practice of shutting markets during typhoons from Sept. 23.
Sandbags are stacked at the entrance of a store as Hong Kong braced for Super Typhoon Yagi on Sept. 5.
The last time Hong Kong shut its market trading was in September of last year following the heaviest rainstorm since records began in 1884.
The halt comes at a time when the city has been putting efforts to boost the liquidity and improve the appeal of its flagging stock market through measures, including stamp-duty cuts on stock trading last year. The benchmark Hang Seng Index has shed more than 5% over the past 12 months, underperforming most global gauges.
The Signal 8 alert is a warning for gale or storm force winds. Train operator MTR Corp. said rail services will operate at limited frequencies, while the government had already announced the suspension of school classes on Friday.
Forecast track for Super Typhoon Yagi.
Yagi is now about 400 kilometers south-southwest of Hong Kong and heading toward Hainan Island. The storm has maximum sustained winds of 130 knots (241 kilometers) per hour, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The system is equivalent to a Category 4 hurricane, which is considered a major storm that has the capacity to inflict catastrophic damage.
Source : Bloomberg
