Hong Kong Needs More Intervention to Clear Liquidity Glut: Chart

(Bloomberg) -- Don’t get too excited about the idea of a slowdown in Hong Kong’s property market -- the world’s least affordable -- based on prospects for higher borrowing costs as the city mops up cash. Hong Kong’s aggregate balance of interbank liquidity, which will shrink if the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s currency intervention continues following Thursday’s move, will drop to about HK$176.5 billion ($22.5 billion) on Monday, according to the HKMA. But interest rates won’t move significantly until that figure drops below HK$50 billion, Ryan Lam, head of research at Shanghai Commercial Bank, estimates.

--With assistance from Eric Lam

To contact the reporters on this story: Justina Lee in London at jlee1489@bloomberg.net, Tian Chen in Beijing at tchen259@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Richard Frost at rfrost4@bloomberg.net, Fion Li

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