HONG KONG BROKERS BOO EXCHANGES’ LI

Hong Kong securities traders and brokers, who last year lost the longest lunch break of the world's 20 biggest exchanges, marched to the city's bourse and booed at executives to protest a further reduction.

About 1,000 brokers and restaurant staff gathered at the headquarters of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. yesterday, booing Chief Executive Charles Li and Chairman Ronald Arculli when they came out of the office to receive a letter of protest for the plan to cut the lunch hour further from March 5.

Hong Kong Exchanges' Li is seeking to cut the lunch break to one hour from 90 minutes, arguing it may boost business as trading hours are brought in line with China's markets. Rivals in the region have also enacted similar measures with Tokyo shortening its midday halt andSingapore scrapping its break.

"We'll work together to find ways to solve the lunch problem," Li told reporters yesterday after meeting the protesters. "It's necessary to move on. We shouldn't stop our reform."

Li cut the break from two hours last year. Shanghai's trading hours run from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. with a 90-minute stoppage between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Hong Kong will operate from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a one-hour break between noon and 1 p.m. after the proposed change.

The protesters, a mixture of gray-haired brokers and young women in suits and sweaters, marched from Statue Square in the central business district to the bourse's headquarters after the market closed. To chants of "Hong Kong Exchange is inhumane," the protesters waved picket signs and raised fists.

Picket Signs

"All the brokers in Hong Kong are so stretched," said Ruann Cheung, who works at Lippo Securities Holdings Ltd. "With a shorter lunch break, we cannot concentrate in the afternoon."

Cheung and five colleagues were gathered around a picket sign that said: "You want us to trade till we drop. We want you to drop before we trade!"

The booing grew louder as Arculli and Li walked among the protesters.

"The important thing is they came out to receive our letter, showing they are paying attention," said Patrick Lam, chairman of the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Employees Union and organizer of the demonstration. "Last time, they just sent a senior official to receive the letter."

China Competition

Hong Kong is competing with Shanghai to be the center for Chinese trading, and the move to align itself more closely with markets in the mainland comes as more Chinese companies list in the city.

Mainland Chinese companies accounted for 46 percent of the HK$17.5 trillion ($2.3 trillion) market value of Hong Kong's Main Board on Dec. 30, exchange data shows, up from 16 percent in 1997, when the U.K. returned Hong Kong to China.

The exchange has to cater to interests in China and internationally, and "if we don't do it, we may lose some competitive edge to rivals," Arculli said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange last year reduced its lunch break to one hour. Singapore Exchange Ltd. (SGX) scrapped its break, joining Australia, South Korea and India on the list of Asia-Pacific markets that trade without an interval.

Restaurants Suffer

The shorter lunch break has hurt restaurants, said Jacky Choi, the assistant manager at Treasure Lake Golden Banquet, which has 15 stores in the Central and Sheung Wan business districts. Income for each of the restaurant dropped by about HK$10,000 a day after the first reduction in trading break, he said.

Brokers use the break to communicate with clients and one hour is not enough, the union's Lam said. The bourse's argument that it will make the exchange more competitive is not a strong enough reason, he said.

"Turnover at the Hong Kong exchange hasn't increased since the first phase of the lunch cut," said Lam.

The average daily turnover in the city has been HK$67.8 billion since the bourse reduced its break on March 7 last year to the current 90 minutes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That's less than the HK$69.8 billion average for the same period a year earlier, when traders still enjoyed their two-hour lunch break. The average number of common shares traded has dropped by 28 percent to 11.1 billion.

'Happy Compromise'

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index (HSI) tumbled 20 percent last year, its first annual drop since 2008, with developers and banks tumbling as China took steps to curb inflation andEurope's debt crisis threatened global growth. The decline compares with a little changed Standard & Poor's 500 Index and an 11 percent drop for the Stoxx Europe 600 Index.

"Maybe we can compromise to make everyone happy," said Louis Lai, a stock broker at Phillip Securities who is also part of the union. "There's no urgent need to further cut it back to one hour."

By Kana Nishizawa and Fox Hu - Jan 13, 2012 12:00 AM GMT+0800

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-12/hong-kong-traders-plan-lunch-break-protest.html

港股狂打 999 盈警公告急增 1.5倍 藍籌也遭殃 專家勸忍手

【本報訊】下月尾放榜前夕，企業狂打 999報警！多達 8隻股份昨日收市後齊齊發出盈利警告，當中涵蓋地產、保臉、能源及零售相關股份。據統計，去年 12月至今的盈警公告暴增逾 1.5倍，盈喜盈警比例更由四比六，變成二比八。盈警股更蔓延至藍籌，百麗（ 1880）公佈上季數據遠遜預期，聯通（ 762）則叫投資者勿過於樂觀，性質與發盈警無異。

記者：林靜、吳綺慧

金融海嘯後的 2010年各企業績大反彈，不過利好勢頭未能延續至 2011年。截至昨晚 9時前，昨日已有多達 8間公司公告盈利預測，而且全數為盈警！

事實上，盈警不絕情況在近月持續出現，據本報初步統計，去年 12月至昨天，共有約 42間上市公司就 2011年 12月底止的半年或全年業績發出盈利預測，按年增六成，不過當中 35間或逾八成報憂；相比 2010年同期，僅約 25間公司有盈利預測公佈，其中僅 14間或 56%為壞消息。

中國太平附屬 31年首見紅

港股去年大瀉兩成，投資控股公司中策（ 235）、合一投資（ 913）以及滬光國際（ 770）齊齊受累股票投資虧損，股市不濟同時令內險股受挫，中國太平（ 966）昨公佈，受累投資收益減少及重大災害賠款上升，集團全資附屬太平再保險去年業績將錄經營虧損，為 1980年創立以來首次。

一度熱熾的樓市最終腳軟，地產代理商美聯（ 1200）表示，受中港物業交投放緩影響，集團去年下半年或錄得虧損，去年純利或大幅倒退，同系的美聯工商舖（ 459）亦預警純利倒退。

其餘預警股份還包括黛麗斯（ 333）及泰坦能源（ 2188），當中兩個月前曾爆工潮的黛麗斯指中期業績將見紅，主席馮煒堯昨接受本報查詢時強調，今次盈警與早前爆發的工潮關係不大，主要由於市場氣氛轉差，令部份定單被取消，導致銷售額低於預期所致。

市場擔憂企業盈利表現欠佳打擊市場信心，甚至令港股估值有下調風險。康宏證券及資產管理董事黃敏碩認為，在企業業績正式公佈前仍難言負面因素是否已全面反映，尤其以炒概念先行的股份，如內需等，並切記強勢板塊並非必然大賺，他認為目前未到加倉時機。

�指反覆　收市倒跌 56點

港股昨反覆調整，�指在內地通脹數據符預期下一度炒高逾百點後回吐，收報 19095點，跌 56點（ 0.30%）； H指報 10519點，升 0.02%，主板成交 561億元。

資金湧入績佳股，莎莎（ 178）及國際資源（ 2882）升逾一成，相反盈警股第一上海（ 227）暴瀉 6.3%，日前發盈警的碧生源（ 926）再挫半成。