The Strategic Planning column's current actual holdings for short-term, medium-term, and long-term securities portfolios are 25%, 37.5%, and 27.5% respectively, with market outlooks categorized as preferential, bearish, and significantly bearish. The Shanghai-Hong Kong and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect trading has resumed for four trading days, yet unfortunately, bulls have not succeeded in regaining market control. Regarding overall market turnover, there was a brief surge, but it quickly dropped to a relatively low level seen in recent years, due to significantly reduced capital inflows from mainland China. Financial markets are closely watching this week's U.S. economic data to see whether inflation pressures emerge, potentially forcing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates further this month, causing investors to mostly adopt a wait-and-see attitude. The latest situation indicates that even if U.S. interest rates remain unchanged this month, the possibility of another rate hike before year-end cannot be ruled out; when that happens, Hong Kong banks are expected to eventually raise rates, adding downward pressure on Hong Kong stocks. For this reason, buying activities in the market recently have been very inactive.

Earlier, this column prepared four portions of funds, waiting for opportunities to enter the market on an ultra-short-term to medium-term basis to hold physical stocks, anticipating that Hong Kong stocks would officially begin a short-term rebound. Unfortunately, the market's downward trend suddenly accelerated, and after deploying two portions of funds, the action had to be temporarily halted. The ultra-short-term speculative portion should naturally shift to a defensive stance, while the short-term speculative and medium-term investment portions should also adopt a wait-and-see approach, patiently waiting for a favorable opportunity to resume buying. Frankly speaking, Hong Kong stocks have fallen below a key support level, but if they can rise back above it and stabilize before this weekend, the official start of a short-term rebound wave can still be expected. However, if the market's decline widens, the support level at the starting point of the previous short-term uptrend is very likely to be tested. The Russia-Ukraine war continues without resolution, and Yemen's Houthi militants have attacked airports and Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia's oil company, preventing oil prices from significantly declining; it appears that market expectations regarding U.S. interest rate moves will continue to influence the direction of Hong Kong stocks. Chief Investment Advisor, Economic Information and Trading Services, Leung Yip Ho (Website: www.BennyLeung.com)

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