Major Hong Kong banks held their prime lending rates steady Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision overnight to leave its benchmark interest rates unchanged near zero.

HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) unit Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp., Hang Seng Bank Ltd. (0011.HK), another HSBC unit, and BOC (Hong Kong) Ltd. (2388.HK) all kept their prime rates unchanged at 5.00%. Bank of East Asia Ltd.(0023.HK) kept its prime rate at 5.25%.

Earlier in the day the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it was keeping its base rate unchanged at 0.50% following the Fed's decision.

The territory's currency peg to the U.S. dollar bolts its monetary policy to that of the U.S.,so the HKMA generally follows in lockstep with any interest rate adjustments by the Fed.

The Fed's policy-setting board voted overnight to keep the target federal funds rate unchanged at zero to 0.25%.

Joseph Yam, chief executive of the HKMA, told reporters the recovery of the U.S. economy will likely take a long time.

"Consumption in the U.S. is still very weak, the unemployment rate is very high... the fiscal deficit in particularly is very high... while the financial system will still need big support from the government," he said.

He said the HKMA will monitor the exit strategies of central banks in the U.S. and Europe for any possible shocks to the global financial system.

-By Aries Poon and Chester Yung, Dow Jones Newswires; 852-2832-2332; aries.poon@dowjones.com