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People wearing face masks walk by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on March 4, 2020 in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought HK$1.586 billion ($202 million) from the market on Thursday to stop the local currency weakening and breaking its peg to the U.S. dollar, the de-facto central bank's first intervention in 18 months.
Zhang Wei | China News Service | Getty Images
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority on Thursday cut its base rate charged via the overnight discount window by 50 basis points to 5.25%, tracking a move by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Hong Kong's monetary policy moves in lock-step with the United States as the city's currency is pegged to the greenback in a tight range of 7.75-7.85 per dollar.
HKMA said the U.S. interest rate cut will have a positive impact on the economy of the Asia financial center and will provide some room for easing of local interest rates.
"In Hong Kong, our financial and monetary markets have continued to operate in a smooth and orderly manner. Market liquidity condition has remained stable with the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate hovering within the convertibility zone," HKMA Acting Chief Executive Howard Lee told reporters.
"The rate cut cycle has just begun, interest rates will remain at relatively high level in the foreseeble future. The public should carefully assess and continue to manage the interest rate risk when making property purchase, mortgage or other lending decisions," Lee added.
Hong Kong major banks followed with HSBC cutting its best lending rate in the city by 25 basis points to 5.625% effective Sept. 20, and Bank of China (Hong Kong) said it would cut its Hong Kong prime rate to 5.625% from 5.875% effective Sept. 23.
"Even though uncertainty about future U.S. interest rates still exists, the direction is becoming clearer. Hong Kong interest rates are expected to ease accordingly and that will help support Hong Kong economic growth," Hang Seng Bank's chief economist Thomas Shik said.
On Wednesday, the U.S. central bank kicked off an anticipated series of interest rate cuts with a larger-than-usual half-percentage-point reduction and policymakers see another 50 basis points of cuts in 2024.
"Lower rates are intuitively positive for real estate but will have an uneven impact across Asia property markets and stocks," Morgan Stanley said in a research note, adding falling mortgage rates would offer greater support to Hong Kong than Singapore.
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