An attendant walks outside the entrance to Hong Kong Monetary Authority in Hong Kong, China November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

By Jiaxing Li

HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong's de-facto central bank lowered its base interest rate by 25 basis points to 4.25% on Thursday, tracking a cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

It was the second easing by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) this year since a similar cut in September. The rate is charged via the overnight discount window.

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point to lower the policy rate to a range of 3.75%-4.00% overnight.

Hong Kong's monetary policy moves in lock-step with the United States as the city's currency is pegged to the greenback in a tight range of 7.75-7.85 per dollar.

The rate cut would have a positive effect on the local economy, property markets and employment, Eddie Yue, HKMA's chief executive, said in a media standup on Thursday.

However, the U.S. central bank's new policy statement included several references to the lack of official data during a federal government shutdown, and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that policymakers are likely to become more cautious if it deprives them of further job and inflation reports.

"The direction of interest rates and the magnitude of adjustments are highly uncertain like Powell mentioned today, it's not like there's a preset path - there's significant uncertainty."

Major Hong Kong banks partially followed the reduction on Thursday. HSBC and Bank of China (Hong Kong) both lowered their Hong Kong dollar best lending rates by 12.5 basis points to 5%. Standard Charter cut its Hong Kong dollar prime rate to 5.25% from 5.375%.

(Reporting by Jiaxing Li; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kim Coghill)