Hong Kong's de facto central bank cut the city's base rate for the first time this year, bringing down the cost of funding to help reboot businesses and reduce the burden on mortgage borrowers. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) reduced the city's base rate by a quarter point to 4.5 per cent on Thursday, matching the US Federal Reserve's cut hours earlier to its target rate, which fell to the range of 4 per cent to 4.25 per cent during the sixth meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) thi ...