Hong Kong Hit by Dozens of Trading Halts After Earnings Deadline
Bloomberg News, 01 April 2021
Trading in more than 50 Hong Kong-listed companies was suspended on Thursday, after a number of firms failed to report earnings ahead of the March 31 deadline.
GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd. and China Huarong Asset Management Co. were among the firms that announced a trading halt. GCL-Poly said additional time is required to complete its audit procedures while Huarong said it will delay delivering its earnings as it seeks to complete a transaction. While it’s not uncommon for some companies in Hong Kong to have to suspend trading on April 1, the number this year compares with at least 9 last year and 25 in 2019.
“It’s a bit surprising to me that so many firms delayed their earnings and most of their filings didn’t explain very clearly,” said Daniel So, a strategist at CMB International Securities Ltd. “This year surprisingly there are so many delays, much more than last year when the pandemic hit. The longer they delay in reporting earnings, the worse it will be for their share prices.”
Trading halts may dampen investor sentiment toward Hong Kong’s stock market, where the benchmark gauge briefly slumped into a technical correction late last month amid setbacks in the city’s vaccine rollout and as traders rushed to sell pricey stocks in the wake of rising bond yields.
