The Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) suspended trading in several shares today following a suspected attack by hackers.
The suspensions took place in companies that were due to publish regulatory news during the midday break in trading, after technical problems affected HKEx’s news website service.
Charles Li, HKEx’s CEO, said at a briefing later that the problems with the news service were ‘very likely’ the result of ‘malicious’ hackers, the Wall Street Journal reports. The city’s securities regulator has been informed, added Li.
‘This trading suspension policy aims to give all investors sufficient time to understand the contingency arrangements and locate issuers’ announcements on their websites,’ said HKEx in a statement earlier today.
The exchange directed investors looking for news to its bulletin board website – where it said it would post company announcements – and also to the affected companies’ own websites.
The companies include HSBC Holdings, Cathay Pacific Airways, Dah Sing Bank, China Power and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing, HKEx’s holding company. Most of those involved were releasing their interim results today.
