What event is commonly called the “Black Monday” that struck Hong Kong’s stock exchange in 1987?

The event commonly called the “Black Monday” that struck Hong Kong’s stock exchange in 1987 was the Hong Kong stock-market crash.

Hong Kong’s market fell sharply on October 19, 1987, as part of the worldwide Black Monday collapse. The Hang Seng Index dropped 11.1% that day, and trading was later suspended for several days while authorities and market participants assessed the disorder. The Hong Kong exchange had already been under pressure before the global selling intensified.

The crash was connected to international investor anxiety, falling markets in other regions, currency concerns, and automated or portfolio-based selling strategies. Because financial markets were increasingly linked across time zones, losses in one major center could influence the next market to open.

Hong Kong’s episode is sometimes confused with the 1997 Asian financial crisis, but they were separate events a decade apart. The 1987 crash was a synchronized global equity-market shock, whereas the 1997 crisis involved currency devaluations, debt problems, banking stress, and stock-market losses across several Asian economies.