Regulator wants circuit breaker in HK bourse

Move part of SFC's ongoing efforts to curb risks from high-frequency trading

Hong Kong's securities regulator and stock market operator are mulling a marketwide circuit breaker in a bold move to bring Asia's financial center in line with its global counterparts and combat extreme moves in a volatile market.

In its annual report for fiscal year 2018-2019 issued on Wednesday, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission signaled its intention to introduce a circuit breaker mechanism that suspends trading in the benchmark Hang Seng Index run by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd (HKEx), the operator of Asia's third-largest stock exchange.