In Hong Kong, Chau expects that falling interest rates will help stocks as a whole, especially such blue-chip property developers as Cheung Kong and Sun Hung Kai Properties, both Chau holdings, since lower borrowing costs should stimulate demand for property. (Fair disclosure: Through cef Holdings, Cheung Kong is an investor in Chau's employer, TAL CEF Global Asset Management).

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"We are not a command economy, " sniffs the SAR's secretary for trade and industry, Brian Chau Tak-hay, in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

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Despite this, Chau has not been put off and will be making an appointment to see how he and his business will fare in the Year of the Snake.

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