A typhoon is brewing over Hong Kong but it’s business as usual for the city’s $5.4 trillion stock market. The financial hub has ended a decades-long practice of shutting its markets during severe weather,

The fifth major storm in three weeks is approaching the Philippines, prompting more largescale evacuations and a United Nations request for emergency funds to help the government ease the plight of hard-hit villagers.

Hong Kong stocks hovered around a seven-week low while investors await a flurry of earnings cards from bellwether companies as the city’s financial markets opened for business under typhoon conditions for the first time.

The Hong Kong Observatory said it will issue a so-called Typhoon Signal 8, the third highest, at 11:10 p.m. local time Wednesday as tropical storm Toraji is edging closer to the Pearl River Estuary and local winds will strengthen.