First, unusual price or volume movements in the shares of a listed company. When the Stock Exchange monitors unusual price or volume movements, or when there are media reports and market rumors that may affect the price or trading of the securities of a listed company, in order to maintain a fair and orderly market, the Stock Exchange will normally contact the listed company, which must immediately respond to the Exchange's inquiries. Listed companies are under a continuing duty under the Listing Rules to disclose all Price Sensitive Information (PSI) in a timely manner and to ensure that such information is fairly disseminated.
If a listed company is not aware of the development of any matter which is causing or likely to cause unusual volatility in the price and trading volume of its shares, it is required to make an announcement via the HKExnews website as soon as practicable to explain the situation, and it is not necessary for the company to suspend trading in its shares.
If the situation warrants, for example, if the Exchange finds that the price movement of a listed company is due to the leakage of certain price-sensitive information of the company, the listed company must issue a statement passed by its board of directors stating that the company is aware of matters that may have led to the unusual movement in the price or volume of its shares (including any discussions or deliberations that involve "price-sensitive information"), which may have caused the price or volume of its shares to fluctuate in an abnormal manner. (including any deliberations or discussions involving "price sensitive information"). In order to allow sufficient time for the listed company to collate the relevant price sensitive information and make the relevant announcement, it may be necessary for trading in its shares to be suspended and resumed only after an announcement has been made, so as to ensure that all investors have fair access to the relevant information when trading in the shares of the company.
"Price-sensitive information" refers to information relating to a listed company that is necessary for investors to assess the company's position or that may have a material impact on trading in the company's shares (e.g. favourable or unfavourable changes in financial performance, group reorganization, major transactions, issuance of securities, etc.). It is the responsibility of a listed company under the Listing Rules to assess whether such information is price-sensitive on a case-by-case basis and on its own merits.
The second is the impact of bad weather. The Hong Kong market has developed a well-established and mature practice in dealing with the impact of typhoons and black rainstorms on trading, i.e. there are different countermeasures for typhoon warnings No. 8 and above and black rainstorm warnings at three different times, i.e. before the pre-opening session, during the pre-opening session, and during the continuous trading session.
Third, emergency response to abnormal situations. In the history of the Hong Kong market, there have been instances where trading in the securities of some listed companies was suspended due to system instability caused by disruption to the HKExnews website. In response to this contingency, the SEHK has formulated arrangements for the release of information by listed companies and related trading arrangements in the event of a disruption in the operation of the HKExnews website service or the information dissemination system, so that if a listed company fails to make an announcement of price-sensitive information through other effective channels in the event of a system failure on the HKExnews website, trading in the listed company will be suspended.
In addition, if the listed company and the organization authorized to upload the information have narrative or operational errors in uploading the report due to lax internal control, trading will also be suspended until the incident is effectively resolved.
As for the suspension announcement, investors can check through HKExnews.