The financial sector and essential service providers in Hong Kong have been operating normally on the first working day after the rollover to 2000, said Kwong Ki-chi, secretary for information and technology, at a press conference on January 3.

"Because of our considerable efforts, and those in the private sector, we have not seen any widespread disruption of essential services in the first three days of the new year," said Kwong.

"We have sailed through the first three days of the new millennium relatively smoothly. That suggests that if we keep up our monitoring and tackle any problems reported to us then we should not expect any widespread service disruptions over the rest of the year," he said.

In the financial services sector, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong was operating smoothly, after stocks jumped by almost 2 per cent in brisk early trade to take the Hang Seng Index into record territory.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority said a survey of retail banks and major financial market players found no problems in the morning.

"It has been business as usual," the HKMA spokesman said. " Shared financial systems such as automatic teller machines, credit cards and electronic money brokers are operating normally.

The government's Central Co-ordinating Center has been monitoring the Y2K rollover in Hong Kong since noon on December 31, 1999. The center will operate until about 7 pm Monday, after which Y2K issues will be monitored by the Information Technology and Broadcasting Bureau.