"Long Teng?!" Du Xingzhi panicked upon hearing the name. "Where is he?"
"It's downstairs."
"Please invite him to my office." Du Xingzhi hung up the phone, hurriedly buttoned his suit jacket, checked himself in the mirror, and only left the conference room after making sure he was properly dressed.
Seeing that the big boss had left, the two people who were arguing fiercely also felt it was pointless, and their voices gradually quieted down.
"International speculators have already suffered a setback in Hong Kong. How could they possibly dare to short the Hong Kong dollar index? It's even more difficult than shorting the Hong Kong dollar!"
"You're ridiculous. Soros is a first-rate guy. What wouldn't he dare to do?"
A few scattered words drifted out in the conference room. At this moment, the deputy director of the Foreign Trade Fund Management Department heard this and said with great disdain: "Who says that after they stumbled on the Hong Kong dollar, they won't learn from their experience and lessons and attack the Hong Kong dollar again?"
"I think our main task this time is to safeguard the exchange rate and use the interbank lending rate as a tool for macroeconomic regulation of the market."
His statement was unanimously rejected by the CEO committee: "If the international speculators' aim is to short the Hong Kong dollar, then how do you explain why our heavyweight stocks have experienced two consecutive months of index decline?"
The deputy director of the management department retorted loudly, as if someone had suddenly stepped on his tail: "What happened in Hong Kong a while ago? Don't you know? The bird flu outbreak at the Leofoo Hill chicken farm has spread to all the farms in Hong Kong."
"The spread of avian influenza has infected people, causing a 10% drop in foreign trade. The stock market is already easily affected by food prices."
"If it weren't for the counterpart support from the mainland and Longteng's advance purchase of a large number of chickens and suckling pigs in Southeast Asia, our meat prices would still be rising now."
"What does this mean? It means that the data from the agriculture, forestry, fishery and animal husbandry sectors are not optimistic, which is clearly due to the crisis brought about by this avian flu!"
"They're hopeless cases." A junior staff member muttered to himself. "If the data for these major sectors was affected by bird flu, then bird flu should have been over by now. Why hasn't the index for the Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Animal Husbandry sector risen yet?"
"This shows that someone is manipulating things behind the scenes."
Upon hearing this speech, the deputy director of the management department shouted loudly at the staff behind him, "What did you say? Dare to speak louder?"
Seeing that he was really angry, the members of the CEO committee advised him, "Please try to have a rational discussion."
"Don't give President Du any ammunition to criticize."
The deputy director of the management department snorted coldly, "President Du just left after receiving a phone call. I heard him say that he was going to meet the boss of some Longteng."
They were arguing and didn't notice President Du's phone call.
"The boss of Longteng? Chen Dong?" someone asked.
“An hour ago, a former client of mine sent me a message saying that this Chen Dong spent a fortune at Li Ka-shing’s charity gala, spending nearly HK$90 million to buy a lot of jewelry, and even acquired a national treasure that had just been brought back from the UK.”
"...They're really rich."
Their discussion gradually veered off course.
Chen Dong, the wealthy man everyone talks about, is now being led by his secretary toward the office of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority with a solemn expression.
"Mr. Chen! Welcome, welcome!"
Chen Dong readily sat down, "President Du, I apologize for disturbing you."
"I wonder which wind blew you here?" Du Xingzhi said jokingly.
Sitting in the reception area of the CEO's office, Chen Sheng looked at Du Xingzhi with a somewhat condescending expression. "I've come here mainly to ask the Hong Kong authorities what measures you have in place to prevent this attack on Hong Kong by international speculators?"
"International speculators?" Du Xingzhi poured Chen Sheng a cup of tea with a thoughtful expression, then said somewhat vaguely, "Currently, whether international speculators will appear in the Hong Kong stock market is still under discussion."
How did Chen Sheng get the news?
"I heard you have a good relationship with Li Ka-shing. Surely he didn't tell you that?"
His words implied two things. First, what evidence did he use to conclude that international speculators had reappeared in the Hong Kong stock market? Second, how did Chen Dong obtain such confidential information, and was he also among the international speculators?
The two men raised their teacups, exchanged a smile, and Chen Dong quickly grasped the unspoken meaning behind his words.
“I know the Hong Kong Monetary Authority does not trust me. Even with the advantage of having 0.9% of the total capital of the Hong Kong stock market, the attitude of private capital like ours cannot represent the official stance.”
Chen Dong said this not to express humility, but rather to demonstrate his financial strength to Du Xingzhi.
"But President Du, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong has been falling for several days in a row, and it closed at 8900.65 today. I believe the Hong Kong Monetary Authority is in complete disarray right now, isn't it?"
Upon hearing this, Du Xingzhi choked up, then picked up his teacup, took a sip, and his face quickly flushed red from the tea.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) is in disarray not because it anticipates international speculators will take action against Hong Kong, but because it cannot determine where the international speculators will focus their next move, or where HKMA should place its defenses.
"Mr. Chen, you've truly found a discerning eye that can see through the stock market." President Du didn't hold back his praise for Chen Dong, but he still had some reservations about the boss of Longteng, as there were simply too many factors that could affect stock market data fluctuations.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
