Hong Kong's stock exchange was first hit in the worldwide sequence of the 1987 Black Monday crash.
The Hong Kong stock market suffered a severe fall on October 19, 1987, before the panic spread westward through international financial markets. The collapse then affected European exchanges and the United States, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average recorded its largest one-day percentage decline.
Hong Kong's position in the trading day helped make it the first major market in the sequence. At the time, global markets were already increasingly connected through international investment, communications technology, and financial products. Selling pressure could therefore move across time zones rather than remaining confined to one exchange.
The crash is commonly called Black Monday because the most famous U.S. collapse occurred on a Monday. In some Asian contexts, the date is also described as Black Monday or Black Tuesday depending on local trading calendars. The important distinction is that the international episode began in Hong Kong before reaching the United States.