With "any bad economic change in the U.S., the impact is not only on Hong Kong, but the whole world," he said. "Hong Kong cannot be above any crash in the U.S.; Hong Kong will be affected."
As Li's biographer, Anthony Chan, noted: "Every gesture and twitch on his part might signal to others that he could be preparing for some significant business move. A corporate celebrity, he would become a key barometer of the erratic upturns and downturns of business" in Hong Kong.
"You can look at it from a more positive angle," he said. "The U.S. has started to reduce interest rates and Hong Kong starts to reduce rates. That will be a positive signal to markets."
For all the mystique and reverence that surrounds the Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, it is easy to see him as a local answer to the renowned U.S. investor Warren Buffett.
Li's insights into financial markets are as eagerly watched in this part of the world as Buffett's are in the United States.
So it is no wonder that Li's views on Thursday about the recent turmoil in global markets in the shadow of the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States were of as much interest as the earnings results of his vast business empire.
At a news conference Thursday in the metal and glass tower of Cheung Kong headquarters, Li was positive. He said his own businesses and region were well placed to withstand recent difficulties in credit markets and turmoil in equities markets.
But he acknowledged that might not remain the case if economic conditions in the United States turned ugly.
With "any bad economic change in the U.S., the impact is not only on Hong Kong, but the whole world," he said. "Hong Kong cannot be above any crash in the U.S.; Hong Kong will be affected."
Li, like Buffett, is admired for his investment judgment and his philanthropy. At 79, Li has, like the 76-year-old Buffett, been around for a long time and has a lot of experience in business and investing to draw on.
Both are also known to be personally thrifty. Li, the richest Asian resident and the 12th-richest man in the world, once proudly told an interviewer about his cheap watch, a Seiko, later traded down to a Citizen.
While the parallel between Li and Buffett cannot be stretched too far, their words and actions are scrutinized intensely by other investors for any hint of how to make a fast buck and by the media for insights into the economy and business conditions.
As Li's biographer, Anthony Chan, noted: "Every gesture and twitch on his part might signal to others that he could be preparing for some significant business move. A corporate celebrity, he would become a key barometer of the erratic upturns and downturns of business" in Hong Kong.
Added to that is the fact that Li's businesses are ubiquitous in Hong Kong. It owns supermarket and drugstore chains, a telephone company and has built a good portion of the city's housing. The company estimates that one in 12 Hong Kong people live in one of its apartments.
This explains why a normally mundane corporate event Thursday - the announcement by Li of interim results for his Cheung Kong Group - is a media circus, accompanied by a battery of television cameras, an incessant burst of flashbulbs and dozens of giddy reporters, laughing at Li's frequent gags.
The bottom line for his companies is that they have been doing well over the past six months in an exceptionally buoyant economic environment. He reported profit for Cheung Kong in the first half of 18.5 billion Hong Kong dollars, or $2.36 billion, up 52 percent.
Through Cheung Kong and its subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa, Li oversees an empire that includes ports, commercial and residential property, telecommunications, retailing, electricity generation and energy. A lot of the business is centered on Hong Kong and mainland China, although it has global reach.
Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, Li's eldest son and heir, sitting to his right, cut in with a more optimistic, or perhaps hopeful, view than his father when talking about the knock-on effects of a sharp slowdown in the U.S. economy. The younger Li is deputy chairman and managing director of Cheung Kong.
"You can look at it from a more positive angle," he said. "The U.S. has started to reduce interest rates and Hong Kong starts to reduce rates. That will be a positive signal to markets."
But the elder Li was cautious about giving advice on where stock markets are headed.
"Everywhere there are so many experts on the stock market," he said.
The prices of his own stocks have not been all that inspiring in recent months. Cheung Kong has risen by 11.4 percent since the start of the year, just behind the local benchmark index. The price of Hutchison shares have fallen by 2.6 percent, dragged down by a third- generation mobile phone unit that reported a loss of 11.3 billion Hong Kong dollars in the first half.
Hutchison made a 14.4 billion-dollar contribution to Cheung Kong Group profit, but only because of a 35.8 billion-dollar windfall from the sale of an Indian mobile phone unit to Vodafone of Britain.
Still, analysts say the luster has not gone off the reputation of a man who built vast business holdings from very humble origins and earned epithets in the local press like "Superman" and "Mr. Money." The 3G business is improving and might offer some divestment opportunities.
Cheung Kong also is expanding aggressively in China. The group's last annual report cited 32 residential and commercial construction projects in China that are already in development or bring planned. That should ensure solid returns amid a strong property market.
Eva Lee, an analyst at Macquarie Securities in Hong Kong, said the property portfolio was expected to book substantial earnings in the second half, with the prospects of more to come with Cheung Kong building up a strong land bank.
"The bottom line is a good result," she said.
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