Hong Kong Stock Exchange

The former chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, its chief executive officer and one other top exchange official were arrested Saturday by this British colony's chief anti-corruption agency.

The future of Hong Kong's new second-tier stock market looks impressive. It caters to small, smart high-tech companies looking for cash in a city busy reinventing itself as Asia's Silicon Valley. Hong Kong's treasure chest of investment capital and business savvy also seems a ready-made resource for a Chinese mainland economy rich in new ideas but short on money to develop them.

The global stock slide triggered by Thursday's virtual market crash in Hong Kong hurt U.S. stocks across the board, with broader stock measures declining almost as much as the Dow Jones industrial average. But U.S. bonds gained in price as part of a "flight to quality." The dollar was mixed. Broader U.S. stock measures sank by about 2%, slightly less than the 2.3% loss suffered by the Dow, which still boasts a 21.7% gain for the year.

Arco to Buy Stake in China's Zhenhai: The oil company has agreed to buy about 10% of China's Zhenhai Petrochemical Co. stock, Hong Kong fund managers and securities analysts said. Atlantic Richfield Co. will buy about 40% of the 600 million shares to be issued by Zhenhai in private and public placements, representing 25% of its capital, analysts said. About 120 million shares will be listed as H shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Stock Exchange Chief Is Stepping Aside: Francis Yuen, chief executive of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said he will resign, effective Oct. 18, to take the top job at Hang Chong Investment Co. A successor has not been named. The resignation comes at a time of discord at the exchange, whose members failed recently to adopt a package of wide-reaching reforms. As a result, local regulators will force a stricter version of the reforms on the exchange.

Share prices on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange rebounded slightly today in continued nervous trading over China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Trading was heavy, but brokers said they expected the market to fluctuate until the crisis in China stabilizes. The Hang Seng Index of blue-chip stocks closed at 2,149.71, up 56.1 points from Monday, when it registered its worst loss since the worldwide market collapse in 1987. The index fell 581.77 points on Monday.

Jardine Matheson, the powerful trading house that helped transform this colony into a jewel of the British Empire, moved closer Wednesday to completing a symbolic retreat begun a decade ago when Britain agreed to return Hong Kong to China. Jardine, which inspired James Clavell's novel "Noble House," removed two of its flagship affiliates--Jardine Matheson Holdings and Jardine Strategic Holdings--from the stock market here. The companies will be traded on the Singapore stock market next year.

Arco to Buy Stake in China's Zhenhai: The oil company has agreed to buy about 10% of China's Zhenhai Petrochemical Co. stock, Hong Kong fund managers and securities analysts said. Atlantic Richfield Co. will buy about 40% of the 600 million shares to be issued by Zhenhai in private and public placements, representing 25% of its capital, analysts said. About 120 million shares will be listed as H shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The colony's image as a land where everyone from the tea lady to the taxi driver is happy to bet their shirt on the stock market doesn't hold up in the results of a survey conducted for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Stories have long circulated in Hong Kong about the domestic helpers or waiters who have the best tips on which China-concept stocks are going to take the market by storm. However, they appear to be more the stuff of myth than a reflection of reality.

China's senior leader Deng Xiaoping is going to die someday. About that, everyone is certain. But with speculation now swirling around the Hong Kong stock market regarding the deteriorating health of the 88-year-old patriarch, the ghoulish business of assessing the likely market impact of Deng's passing has begun once more. This isn't new. Deng's "imminent" demise has been the stuff of market-moving rumors for the better part of a decade.

Former Hong Kong Exchange Chief Leaves Prison: Ronald Li, who ran the Hong Kong Stock Exchange "like a private club" until his downfall after the 1987 crash, was released into a fabulously wealthy retirement. Li, 63, who was arrested in early 1988 and later imprisoned for corruption, said his days as a market wheeler-dealer are over.

The escalating Sino-British war of words over Hong Kong's 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty is giving stock market investors fits, even though Hong Kong's economy remains fundamentally sound. Share prices nose-dived for four consecutive days last week before rebounding nearly 6% on Friday. The blue chip Hang Seng index, which fell more than 1,000 points Monday through Thursday, soared 289.89 points on Friday to 5,268.10.

Former Hong Kong Exchange Chief Leaves Prison: Ronald Li, who ran the Hong Kong Stock Exchange "like a private club" until his downfall after the 1987 crash, was released into a fabulously wealthy retirement. Li, 63, who was arrested in early 1988 and later imprisoned for corruption, said his days as a market wheeler-dealer are over.

A former chairman of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange was sentenced today to four years in prison for corruption. Ronald Li, 61, was also ordered to pay an estimated $1.4 million in court costs and profits reaped from his corrupt acts. The high-rolling former stock exchange chairman was convicted in High Court on Wednesday on two counts under Hong Kong's Bribery Prevention Ordinance.

Trading in Allied Group May Resume: A securities watchdog asked the stock exchange to allow trading in Allied Group to resume after the government named a lawyer to investigate suspected shuffling of assets among group companies. If the exchange agrees with the Securities and Futures Commission's request, trading in Allied's 10 companies could resume today. The exchange suspended trading in the flagship of Malaysian tycoon Lee Ming Tee last Wednesday.