Lunch break under threat as Hong Kong looks at longer trading day

{"text":[[{"start":8.56,"text":"Hong Kong’s stock exchange is working on plans to lengthen the trading day in a move that could spell the end of its lunch break."}],[{"start":15.72,"text":"The conversations with market participants about extended hours include whether to scrap the break between noon and 1pm, according to people familiar with the situation."}],[{"start":25.2,"text":"HKEX chief executive Bonnie Chan mentioned “plans to optimise trading hours” in a LinkedIn post last week, adding: “We look forward to more focused discussion with stakeholders on how we evolve the cash market trading day.”"}],[{"start":39.86,"text":"The discussions come as New York’s tech-focused Nasdaq gears up for 23-hour-a-day trading between Sunday night and Friday from early December, sparking concerns in Hong Kong about more business moving to the US during the Asian day."}],[{"start":53.74,"text":"The city also faces rising challenges from other Asian markets, with Seoul last month adding a session from 4pm to 8pm after the regular 9am to 3.30pm day ends."}],[{"start":64.8,"text":"Hong Kong is not the only Asian exchange to pause for lunch: Tokyo traders take a break between 11.30am and 12.30pm, while their counterparts in Shanghai and Shenzhen get a 90-minute respite. However, ending the lunch break in Hong Kong would mean a rupture with mainland Chinese exchanges."}],[{"start":82.68,"text":"The London Stock Exchange once had a lunch break too, but abandoned it way back in 1950. Other major markets in the US and Europe trade through the day."}],[{"start":92.04,"text":"While some Hong Kong traders favour retaining the pause, David Tsang, head of investment banking at Alliance Capital Partners, said it was an “antiquated practice — even the French stock exchange doesn’t have a lunch break”."}],[{"start":103.98,"text":"He also emphasised the need to make Hong Kong competitive with US exchanges."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":107.96,"text":"“It could help with liquidity as you’ll have more people at their desks,” said Mitul Kotecha, head of Asian macro strategy for Barclays, who worked in Hong Kong from 2008 to 2014."}],[{"start":119.56,"text":"He added that ending the break may not have a “big impact” given many Hong Kong traders were already covering multiple markets."}],[{"start":125.96,"text":"“The lunch hour went a long time ago, to be brutally honest,” said one trading professional at a major financial institution in the Chinese territory. “The nature of markets has meant that the idea of the long lunch break has become a little redundant.”"}],[{"start":140.04,"text":"The lunch break was once two hours, before being cut to 90 minutes and then pared back to just an hour in 2012."}],[{"start":146.76,"text":"HKEX is yet to issue an official consultation. Conversations with stakeholders remain preliminary and may not result in changes, said people familiar with the process."}],[{"start":157.6,"text":"Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission chief executive Julia Leung said in a speech earlier this month that “measures being studied include extending securities trading hours”."}],[{"start":167.92,"text":"Hong Kong has been steadily broadening access to its markets in a move to solidify its status as an international financial centre and trading hub. In 2024 HKEX brought an end to the British-era practice of halting trading during typhoons and extreme weather."}],[{"start":183.48,"text":"HKEX said it was “committed to enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness as an international financial centre and regularly reviews opportunities to improve market accessibility to meet evolving investor demand” and promised “further updates as required in due course”."}],[{"start":199.44,"text":"Hong Kong traders wanting a shorter working day could always consider the Taiwan Stock Exchange in Taipei, which trades for just four and a half hours a day, ending at 1.30pm."}],[{"start":213.4,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792805758_5655.mp3"}