HONG KONG IN TOUCH WITH THE WORLD
The Stock Exchange
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The international money movers are not alone in using the latest technology to make their millions: Hong Kong's unified stock exchange, due to open in 1986, will feature a $50 million computerised trading system. Some brokers fear that the new exchange will lack atmosphere, with the click of computer keyboards replacing the shouting, arm-waving, face-to-face bargain-making of a traditional trading floor. It has even been suggested that tapes be made at the existing stock exchanges, to be piped into the new premises as a sort of financial Muzak.
Hong Kong now has four stock exchanges: the Hong Kong, Far East, Kam Ngan and Kowloon (though in a typical Hong Kong quirk, the Kowloon stock exchange is not in Kowloon at all, but on Hong Kong Island). The four are to merge and move into the new Exchange Square buildings on the Central waterfront. Brokers will enter transactions on their computer screens and the information will be flashed to the screens of other brokers. Deals can be made by telephone, and the computer does the bookkeeping.
Despite its high-technology image, the new exchange will not be all flashing screens and buzzing telephones. A space has been left in the middle of the trading area for personal bargain-striking and those who need the one-on-one system to spur the flow of adrenalin. Transactions made here will, however, also be put into the computer.
The amalgamation is expected to reduce the number of brokers from the present 900 to some 500-600 with some smaller brokers leaving the industry and others forming partnerships. Bank related brokers, previously barred from exchange membership, will also be entering the new exchange. While this will affect the small and medium-sized brokers, the unification of the four exchanges is certain to help Hong Kong to further develop as a regional and world financial centre.
The ups and downs of Hong Kong's volatile share market are keenly followed by the man in the street. Many banks and some retail stores display latest prices on video screens for the benefit of customers, along with relevant financial information, including interest rates and currency fluctuations. Newspapers, radio and television also give prominent coverage to financial news.
Air Transport
New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport is more than 30 kilometres from downtown Manhattan. Heathrow Airport is 24 kilometres from central London, while Gatwick is nearly 20 kilometres farther out. Tokyo's Narita airport is 66 kilometres outside the city. Hong Kong International Airport, however, is less than five kilometres from Central District - a drive of about 15 minutes, depending on traffic in the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
Known locally as Kai Tak airport, after a Legislative Councillor, Dr Ho Kai, and Mr Au Tak, who owned the land on which the small original airport was built, Hong Kong International Airport's single runway juts more than 3 300 metres into Kowloon Bay, forming Hong Kong's most important link with the rest of the world. The western approach to the airport is spectacular, and many a first time visitor to Hong Kong has stared from his aircraft window surprised, if not a little alarmed, to realise that washing, hung out to dry on bamboo poles from high rise housing in Kowloon is above the level of the aircraft's wings.
Despite having only one runway and operating a night curfew, Hong Kong International Airport handles nearly 10 million passengers a year, ranking it seventh in the world for international air passenger traffic, and over 400 000 tonnes of air freight. From it, a total of