HONG KONG, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) intervened for a second time in less than two days on Friday to support the HK dollar, as it fell to the bottom limit of its trading range.
On Friday, it bought 2.44 billion HK dollars (310.83 million U.S. dollars) from the market, after it bought 816 million HK dollars from the market on Thursday night, which was the first operation of its kind since 2005.
The HKMA's deputy chief executive, Howard Lee, said they made two foreign exchange transactions worth a total of 3.26 billion HK dollars, reducing the aggregate balance of the Hong Kong banking system by nearly 2 percent to around 176.5 billion HK dollars.
He said the reduction would provide a more conducive environment for interest rate normalization in Hong Kong.
Lee said people should better manage their risks as interest rates increase, especially for those with mortgages and loans.
Frank Lee, an analyst with DBS Bank (Hong Kong), told Xinhua that HK dollar exchange rate or interest rate changes will have limited impacts on the stock market so far, but if HK dollar interest rate climbed ultimately, it would likely dampen investment in property market.
The HKMA is obliged to intervene to keep the Hong Kong dollar within the range pegged with the U.S. dollar, a system introduced in 1983 and improved in 2005, when the lower limit of its trading band was shifted from 7.8 to 7.85.
