The chairperson of Hong Kong’s bourse operator has defended the city’s stock market after a US economist wrote in the Financial Times that the Hong Kong market was “over”. Outgoing chair of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) Laura Cha was speaking to reporters after a ceremony on Wednesday to ring in the first trading day of the Lunar New Year. “I understand that people have seen the views of a few stakeholders who hold a pessimistic view towards the Hong Kong market, and that Hong Kong is ‘over’. I fully disagree,” Cha told reporters in Cantonese. She was referring to remarks made by for…