Hong Kong Stock Market to Remain Open Despite Typhoons Starting Next Year... Overcoming Severe Weather?

Hong Kong Experiences an Average of 6 Typhoons Annually... 4 Closures This Year
HKEX Operates Remotely During Severe Weather

The Hong Kong stock market is expected to remain open even when typhoons hit starting next year.

According to Bloomberg on the 1st, the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced the plan the day before to operate the stock market normally during typhoons and other severe weather conditions starting from July next year.

On September 8th, amid record-breaking heavy rain in Hong Kong, a man is pulling his luggage through a flooded street. [Image source=Yonhap News]

HKEX explained that during severe weather, all operations will be conducted remotely, and services through physical counters will be limited. It also added that the banking sector has agreed to provide banking services accordingly.

Market participants can submit their opinions on the new operational plan until January 26 next year. After a six-month preparation period, HKEX plans to apply the new operational policy starting from the typhoon season in July next year.

Hong Kong experiences an average of six typhoons annually. When the No. 8 typhoon signal, the third level among the five typhoon warning levels, is issued, financial markets, courts, public institutions, and schools close.

Because of this, the Hong Kong stock market closed four times this year alone. Since 2018, it has been closed a total of 11 times.

Bloomberg explained, "Hong Kong, one of the world's four major stock markets, is unusually vulnerable to severe weather among global financial hubs," and added, "The complex operational regulations of the Hong Kong stock market, which were subject to different rules depending on typhoon and heavy rain warning levels, are now coming to an end."

Bloomberg also analyzed that the change in regulations seems to have been attempted amid the Hang Seng Index, Hong Kong's representative index, declining for four consecutive years due to continuous sell-offs by foreign investors, along with pressure from mainland China.