Hong Kong Monetary Authority bought 1.2bn USD in New York, for the first time in a week to maintain the local currency's peg
- taking this month's purchases to $5.85 billion
- Bought at HK$7.75 a dollar, the upper limit of a convertibility range that triggers intervention
- Bought $300 million during the Hong Kong day on Monday
Purchases to date in April are equivalent to more than half of the $9.72 billion acquired when the currency link was last tested in July and August last year, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
- Demand for HLKD is building after China made it easier for mainland funds to buy Hong Kong stocks
- The Hang Seng is up 16%
Tim Condon, the Singapore-based head of Asia research at ING Groep NV says:
- Stock inflows have coincided "with an appreciating yuan and a dollar that has been rangebound"
- This round of intervention will be "short-lived" and there isn't any pressure on the peg at the moment
