Hong Kong to keep stock market open when typhoons hit

Hong Kong's stock market will stay open during typhoons and heavy rain effective September 23, a change that will help maintain the global financial hub's competitiveness, city leader John Lee said on June 18, Report informs referring to Reuters.

Lee, who made the announcement during a weekly press conference, said the move was in line with other cities and widely supported by traders and banks.
Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities, said there was already market consensus on the rollout of the new measure to allow trading under extreme weather.

"I don't think this measure will greatly help the market sentiment or trading volume," Wong said, adding he is neutral on the measure.

"The market is now more concerned about whether the (Hong Kong-mainland) Stock Connect program can be expanded to include more companies, such as Alibaba. These measures are more important for Hong Kong stock market," Wong added.