The Standard, one of Hong Kong's few English language newspapers, said it would switch to free circulation next Monday, after the bourse abandoned requirements for listed firms to place paid newspaper announcements.

"We're going free," read the paper's front-page on Monday.

"There is a worldwide trend towards free tabloid newspapers that deliver news in an easy-to-read, lively and no-nonsense style, " Charles Ho Tsu-kwok, chairman of the newspaper's owner Sing Tao News Corp was quoted as saying. "The time has arrived for Hong Kong's first free-circulation English newspaper."

Ho said his company planned an initial distribution of 120,000 copies for the newspaper daily at over 80 high-traffic points in main business districts, such as Central, Western, Admiralty, Wan Chai, Causeway Bay and Tsim Sha Tsui.

The move came after a recent change in the information disclosure requirements of the Hong Kong stock exchange for listed companies to post paid notices in newspapers, which comprised a significant portion of newspaper revenues.

Ho admitted the change on the bourse was a factor in the decision to go free.

"We had to change," he said.

Analysts said the Standard's move could lead to pressure on its rival publications, such as the South China Morning Post, by causing advertisers to turn away from them.

Sing Tao News Corp currently has two free papers in Chinese, with Headline Daily at 700,000 copies daily and Express Post at more than 300,000 copies.

(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)