Pf I
9/12/87
s 1550
For SASI from MB
STOCK EXCHANGE CLOSURE - YOUR ID 541/87.
1.
I would have wished to have undertaken a more
comprehensive assessment of this issue in the eleven EC Member States, but our resources are limited. However, a fairly consistent picture has emerged from the enquiries we have made and this is summarised in the following paragraphs.
Media Perceptions
2.
It
Media coverage was reported in fax B1331 of 28 October to DIS and the October press review. I will not repeat here. is worth noting that:
3.
(a) the majority of reports and the most critical came from
correspondents of European papers and news agencies based in Hong Kong. They reflected reporting in the Hong Kong press at the time.
(b) V news reports highlighting Ronald Li's outburst during
a press, conference created the strongest and most
A number of unfavourable impression on European viewers. contacts contrasted his performance with the maturity and control displayed by the New York stock exchange chairman in a newsclip shown in the same programme.
(c) Photographs in several newspapers of the FS and Ronald Li
looking tired and worried also caused comment.
Financial papers analysing the events several days
later generally concluded that:
a) it was a mistake to close the HKSE. Hong Kong's image as
an open market would suffer.
The
(b) The decision to close the market was taken by Li and his
associates in order to safeguard their investments. expectation that small investors who had suffered losses as a result of the market closure would challenge the closure in court was widely noted.
14.