The Hong Kong stock exchange was forced to suspend trading in stocks including HSBC Holdings after hackers broke into the exchange's web site on Wednesday, preventing investors from accessing company announcements made during the midday break.
'Our current assessment that this is a result of a malicious attack by outside hacking,' the chief executive of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Charles Li told reporters after the company announced interim results.
In a statement released earlier, HKEx said it had adopted a half-day (one trading session) suspension policy for issuers that announce price-sensitive information during the lunch hour.
Other systems at the exchange were not affected and trading in its securities and derivatives markets operated normally, the exchange said.
If the web site remains unstable on Thursday, the exchange's bulletin board will be used for dissemination of information but the stocks will be not suspended, said Mark Dickens, head of listing at HKEx.
Dickens added that the move to suspend trading was part of a contingency plan approved by the territory's stock regulator.
Li's statement comes after internet security firm McAfee said last week that it discovered a five-year long campaign of cyber attacks on the networks of governments, organisations and businesses.
Other targets have been the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the International Olympic Committee; and an array of companies from defence contractors to high-tech enterprises.
HKEx had its own shares suspended after it reported a 19.5 per cent rise in second-quarter profits. Other stocks which were halted for the day included Cathay Pacific and Dah Sing Financial which also reported interim results.
Source : New Age
