Hong Kong’s stock exchange has reintroduced a closing auction, bringing to an end a period that left it isolated as the only developed market not to have a mechanism to ease volatility.
The 10-minute mechanism launched smoothly yesterday, easing worries the auction could signal a return to the chaos of a previous version, which was abandoned in 2009 after it increased the volatility in stocks such as HSBC.
Auctions have become standard around the world for major bourses as a means of smoothing end-of-day volatility and as a tool for fund managers, particularly tracker funds, that have to execute at closing prices. They are also used in valuing portfolios and benchmarking performances.