At 12 pm both hands of a wall clock, placed normally on the wall, point to the South. In which direction the hour hand will point at 9 am?

Under normal conditions on a wall clock, at 12 pm, both the hour and minute hands point straight upwards (which corresponds to North on a standard cardinal map).
1. According to the problem statement, this upward position points to the South.
2. This indicates that the directional orientation of the clock has been rotated by $180^{\circ }$:
* 12 o'clock (Up) $⟹$ South
* 6 o'clock (Down) $⟹$ North
* 3 o'clock (Right) $⟹$ West
* 9 o'clock (Left) $⟹$ East

At 9 am, the hour hand points exactly towards the 9 o'clock position (to the left). As established by the rotated layout, the left direction represents East.