Equities traders in Hong Kong will lose their two-hour lunch break. Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Chief Executive Officer Charles Li wants to cut in half the two-hour break to bring trading in line with China’s financial markets.
Li said the difference in trading hours gives traders in Shanghai and Shenzhen a head start over Hong Kong investors in reacting to market news. Mainland companies accounted for 47% of the HK$19.69 trillion (US$2.5 trillion) market value of Hong Kong’s Main Board as of Sept. 30, up from 16% in 1997.
Bloomberg.com reports that on the London Stock Exchange, there hasn’t been a lunchtime trading break since at least 1950 while New York dropped the lunch break in 1887.